The Bangladeshi 'House of Mirrors', Aynaghar Prison

"That's the first time I got fresh air in eight years. I thought they were going to kill me."

"Slowly, slowly, I could realize that I am not alone. I could hear people crying. I could hear people being tortured. I could hear people screaming."

"I never could believe in my wildest dreams that they would subject me to disappearance just days before my father's execution."

"I kept telling them, 'Do you know who I am? I need to be there to conduct my case."

"I need to be there with my family."

Bangladeshi barrister Ahmad Bin Quasem

Ahmad Bin Quasem was freed from prison after 8 years as the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina collapsed

 

The student protests in Bangladesh, despite the violent repression by government forces, succeeded in forcing its long-time president, Sheikh Hasina to suddenly leave the country for haven in India on August 5 after a 15-year autocratic rein during which time her political opponents were subject to mass detention -- and extrajudicial killing was practised as a permanent eradication of opponents to her stringent rule that brooked no protests.

Imprisoned for eight long years, during which time no news of the outside world reached the prisoner confined to solitary confinement and shackled throughout, he had no idea of what had just transpired. He had been blindfolded, handcuffed, bundled out of the prison into a vehicle and thrown into a ditch on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka. But he was free and he was alive and he was anxious to be reunited with his family.

 Those eight years confined to a penal facility operated by Bangladeshi army intelligence were years lost to any awareness of the outside world. In the detention centre, named as Aynaghar, music blared throughout the day, deliberately planned to drown out the Islamic call to prayer from mosques nearby, preventing the devout Quassem from knowing when he should offer his prayers. Time was an element lost to him; he was uncertain how long it had been since his abduction and consequent incarceration.

 

One night 8 years before, plain clothes men invaded his home, took him from his family, dragged him protesting down the stairs to a waiting car. At those times when the music was shut off, he was able to hear the anguished voices of other detainees. According to Human Rights Watch, security forces had committed "over 600 enforced disappearances" since 2009, when Sheikh Hasina came to power. The very existence of Aynaghar was largely unknown to Bangladeshis. 

 

Political opponents of the regime and other extremist leaders were taken to a mysterious prison in Dhaka called the Aynaghar. (Image: Getty)

 

Quasem was very well aware of the reason he was abducted given that his father, Mir Quasem Ali, was a senior member of the largest Islamist party in Bangladesh. And he had been placed on trial, accused of operating a paramilitary group torturing pro-independence Bangladeshis of the 1972 liberation war against Pakistan. He, along with others were indicted by a war-crimes tribunal to deliver justice for the victims of that conflict on the surface, while the process was known to be a vehicle of Sheikh Hasina's political opponents' elimination campaign.

Ahmad Bin Quasem studied in Britain and at age 32 was called to the bar in London. At the time of his abduction he was involved in his father's defence before the war-crimes tribunal. That very fact meant that he was a marked man. His 'arrest' put an end to any defence for his father for whom the outcome of the prosecution was in motion from the moment he was taken into detention. Quasem pointed out to the media while he was still active that the trial was rife with procedural lapses and judicial bias.

 

Aynaghar (old section) cells

 

Four weeks after his arrest, Quasem's father was hanged. On his unceremonious release into a muddy ditch, Quasem walked through the night in an effort to recognize some familiarity of where he was and a direction that could  take him to a route where he could find his way home. As it happened he saw a medical clinic operated by a charity for which his father had once acted as a trustee. A staff member recognized him and helped to track down and contact his family.

"It didn't feel like eight  years for us. It felt like eight lifetimes", commented Quasem's mother. At the time he was taken away, his two daughters were three and four years old. Every anniversary of his enforced disappearance, his family was warned not to publicize his absence and abduction. His wife had felt ostracized by other mothers at their children's school, as a result of publicity surrounding Quasem's case.

Abdullahil Amaan Azmi [L] and Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem [R]