Twitter Facebook Ilias Ali Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary, Member of Parliament; One of BNP’s Most Prominent Representatives – Amnesty International

Ilias Ali’s son, Abrar Ilias, said that a man selling coconuts, a tea stall owner, and the guard at a construction site told them that on the night of April 17, 2012, they saw a microbus hit Ali’s car and then pull Ali and Ansar into the microbus and drive away.¹

After the two men went missing, Ali’s car was found, abandoned with all the doors open, near his home in the Banani neighborhood of Dhaka.² There were at least 13 cases brought against Ali since the ruling Awami League came into power in 2009. According to a 2019 report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), before his disappearance, a member of the Special Security Force (SSF), claimed that Ilias Ali was “on the list of names against whom the government was making plans.”³ After he went missing, a member of the SSF again ominously confirmed that “the government has some plan regarding Ilias Ali.”⁴ Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supporters, including opposition leader Khaleda Zia, have expressed their belief that Ali and Ansar were forcibly disappeared by security forces and engaged in nationwide strikes over the case.⁵

Ali’s wife, Tahsina Rushdir, lodged a general diary (GD) with the Banani Police Station on April 18, 2012. According to Ali’s relatives, the police refused to file a case beyond the GD, however, due to “orders from above.”⁶ Later, Ali’s family filed a writ petition with the High Court and the High Court issued a rule calling on respondents to show cause as to why Ali had not been brought to court and that they must reply within 10 days. The High Court ordered police to submit weekly reports updating the court on the status of the case. Although the police initially complied with the order, the reports did not provide any substantial information and they stopped reporting after six months.⁷ In April 2018, Ali’s wife, Tahsina, told the media that law enforcement had only contacted her for the first four or five months after her husband had disappeared, but “after that, no one from law enforcement agencies communicated with us or informed us about the progress.”⁸

Forman Ali, an officer in charge of Banani Police Station where the GD was lodged in May 2012, told the media in 2018: “We are investigating [the incident] to find out Ilias based on the general diary filed in this connection. But there is no specific progress as of now.”⁹

Since Ali’s disappearance, his family has faced harassment from law enforcement who come to their home.¹⁰

Ali’s wife told the media: “The government or the law enforcement agencies might have thought that we have forgotten him as years have passed. But the memory of Ilias Ali haunts me and my children every night.”¹¹

Ilias Ali and Mohammad Ansar are still missing.