DHAKA — A government-appointed commission in Bangladesh says at least 287 people who were abducted during the rule of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina are presumed to have been killed, according to findings released Monday.
The commission, formed after a mass uprising in August 2024 that led to Hasina’s removal from power, said it investigated 1,569 cases of enforced disappearances. Of those, investigators concluded that 287 victims likely died.
In its report, the commission said some bodies were believed to have been dumped in rivers — including the Buriganga in the capital, Dhaka — while others may have been buried in mass graves.
“We have identified several unmarked graves in several places where the bodies were presumably buried,” said Nur Khan Liton, a member of the commission.
The commission recommended that Bangladesh seek international cooperation from forensic experts to help identify remains and collect and preserve DNA samples from victims’ families.
Its final report, submitted to the government on Sunday, said the abductions were carried out by security forces acting under the command of Hasina and senior officials in her administration.
According to the findings, many of those who disappeared were members or supporters of opposition groups, including Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Separately, police launched an investigation in December that included the exhumation of a suspected mass grave in Dhaka, as authorities continue to examine alleged abuses linked to the former government.