UK lawyer for int’l inquiry into Rab

UK lawyer for int’l inquiry into Rab

A high-profile British lawyer has called for a UK-led international inquiry into the activities of Bangladeshi elite force Rab. The objective of the inquiry will be to uncover the truth behind Rab’s highly dubious human rights record.

If it is found that Rapid Action Battalion consistently violated these rights in carrying out their operations, the UK government can be dissuaded from providing the training and support facilities that it has been to Rab over the last three years, as revealed in US embassy cables relating to Bangladesh released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks.

Talking to UNB over phone from his office in Birmingham, Phil Shiner, who has gained a reputation as arguably the most combative human rights lawyer in Britain, sounded in no doubt about Rab being a reckless, Latin American-style “death squad”, as described in a damaging report published by left-leaning British newspaper the Guardian, on December 23.

“There must be a full inquiry initiated by the UK into the activities of the Rab,” said Shiner, before adding, “all states owe duties to each other to cooperate and uncover Rab’s activities, and to bring all unlawful activities, including of executions, to an immediate end.”

The law firm founded by Shiner, Public Interest Lawyers, wrote a letter to the UK government’s Home, and Foreign offices following publication of the Guardian report, seeking a judicial review of the legality of UK support for Rab.

The most controversial feature of its modus operandi is the extrajudicial deaths of criminals or whoever it is chasing at the time, and then the categorization of these deaths under the misleading term “crossfire”. Shiner is optimistic that this line of inquiry can eventually lead to compensation for the families of some of the victims, paid for by British taxpayers.