Rohingya people living in refugee camps in the Bangladeshi city of Cox’s Bazar are being arbitrarily detained, beaten and tortured by members of the Armed Police Battalion (APBN) – a special combat unit of the Bangladesh Police Force – Human Rights An investigation by NGO Fortify has exposed the rights.
The group said last week, “Bangladesh police beat Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees with batons and chokeholds and used other methods of torture against them to extort payments, sometimes amounting to thousands of US dollars.”
The APBN has been responsible for maintaining security in the refugee camps since July 2020. The force has since faced repeated allegations of human rights violations against the Rohingya.
Matthew Smith, chief executive of Fortify Rights, said the police were “using Rohingya refugees as human ATMs, inflicting severe physical and psychological suffering to demand corrupt payments.”
Earlier this year, another international organization, Human Rights Watch, also accused APBN of extortion, arbitrary arrests and persecution of Rohingya refugees.
Both Fortify Rights and HRW said their reports were based on interviews with Rohingya living in the camps.