By 
Katherine Youssouf
Jo Panuwat D, Shutterstock, Stock
Sky News has released documentary evidence of torture cells in secret Bangladeshi prisons used by Sheikh Hasina’s former government to punish critics and dissidents.
Sky News investigated a secret prison in Bangladesh and captured footage of dark, concrete cells in which detainees were held in isolation, with little to no access to light or ventilation for months and, in some cases, years (Sky News, 2025b). Law enforcement agencies reportedly used these facilities under the previous Sheikh Hasina government to torture and interrogate political opponents and critics of the former government (Sky News, 2025a). Detainees were reportedly restrained in metal chairs and violently spun during interrogations, suspended from ceiling bolts, subjected to genital electrocution, had their mouths sewn shut without anesthesia and their nails forcibly removed, as well as other forms of extreme physical and psychological torture (Sky News, 2025a). As many as 3,500 people disappeared during Hasina’s twenty-year rule, many of whom were dissidents who Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion abducted–commonly referred to as the “death squad”–and tortured in secret (Sky News, 2025a; NPR, 2024).
Prosecutors from the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT-BD) state that there could be as many as 800 secret prisons across Bangladesh, at least eight of which have been uncovered in the city’s capital of Dhaka (NPR, 2024; Sky News, 2025a). The ICT-BD has issued two arrest warrants against Hasina, who remains in India following the July Revolution, for the enforced disappearances during her time in power (Sky News, 2025a). The interim government’s commission, which was established in August 2024 to investigate enforced disappearances, has already received 1,700 complaints from families looking to find out the fate of their lost loved ones (Sky News, 2025a; BenarNews, 2024).
Sources and further reading:
BenarNews. (2024, December 19). 10 shocking facts: Hasina caused enforced disappearances. BenarNews. Accessed 4 March 2025. https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/bengali/10-shocking-facts-hasina-caused-enforced-disappearances-12192024141019.html
NPR. (2024, December 27). Now-ousted Bangladeshi PM was involved in thousands of disappearances, report says. NPR. Accessed 4 March 2025. https://www.npr.org/2024/12/27/nx-s1-5237518/now-ousted-bangladeshi-pm-was-involved-in-thousands-of-disappearances-report-says
Sky News. (2025a). Electrocuted, beaten and left to die: The horrors of Bangladesh’s death squad jails. Sky News. Accessed 4 March 2025. https://news.sky.com/story/electrocuted-beaten-and-left-to-die-the-horrors-of-bangladesh-s-death-squad-jails-13318685
Sky News. (2025b, 4 March). Bangladesh: Inside a very dark and very violent torture chamber [Video]. Sky News. Accessed 4 March 2025. https://news.sky.com/video/bangladesh-inside-a-very-dark-and-very-violent-torture-chamber-13318735
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