Aynaghar (‘House of Mirrors’): Alleged secret detention sites in Bangladesh

Abstract

Introduction: Reports and testimonies of survivors revealed that law-enforcing agencies of Bangladesh maintained secret torture cells under the recently (5 August 2024) ousted regime by the Monsoon Revolution. Despite the gravity of the matter, no previous systematic attempt to study the practice has been identified. Therefore, we aimed to report on the state-run torture cell named “Aynaghor” (House of Mirrors) in Bangladesh, documenting it as a significant example of human rights violations. Methods: We qualitatively synthesised this data from available secondary sources, including reports from human rights organisations, telecasted news, newspaper reports, and other media sources that featured the testimonies of persons detained and held in the torture cells. From these sources, we extracted the socio-demography of survivors, possible reasons for detention and torture, descriptions of the secret torture cells, and the severity of torture inflicted. Results: Politically motivated “high-value detainees” were typically held and subjected to torture at Aynaghor for varying durations (days to years). The majority of these detainees were identified as male. Some of the detainees have still not been traced, and perhaps have been killed by law enforcement agencies. Enforced disappearances often occurred before individuals were sent to the secret prison. In some cases, people were misidentified, and allegedly, the ‘wrong’ persons were tortured. Discussion: We present a systematic and qualitative description of the secret prison established in Bangladesh based on available secondary sources. However, given the sensitive nature of the subject and the varying quality and extent of the available data, caution must be exercised when generalising these findings.