Brig Gen Miftah taken into military custody in Ekram killing case

Brigadier General Miftah Uddin Ahmed, an accused in the murder case of former Teknaf municipality councillor Ekramul Haque, has been taken into military custody.

At the time of Ekram's death in 2018, Miftah was serving as a lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-7.

The prosecution submitted the charge sheet to the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Sunday (July 26), naming Miftah Uddin Ahmed and several others as accused. Following the submission, the tribunal issued arrest warrants against them.

According to sources, at around 10:39 pm on Monday, Miftah was transferred from a room in the Swapnochura-1 building inside Dhaka Cantonment to the Army Headquarters' old officers' mess.

He is currently being held in the facility, known as the Log Area, under the supervision of the Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General.

Ekramul Haque, then a councillor of Teknaf Municipality in Cox's Bazar, was killed on May 27, 2018, in what RAB described as a gunfight. The elite force alleged that he was involved in drug trafficking, a claim his family consistently rejected, insisting that he had been deliberately killed.

The case drew nationwide attention after an audio recording surfaced in which, according to the family, Ekram was speaking to his wife and daughters over the phone while in RAB custody. Gunshots could reportedly be heard during the call, raising serious questions about the official account of the incident.

The recording triggered widespread criticism of the so-called "gunfight" narrative, prompting local and international human rights organisations to call for an independent and impartial investigation.

In December 2021, the United States imposed sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and several current and former officials over allegations of human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings. Miftah Uddin Ahmed was among those sanctioned.

With the submission of the charge sheet to the ICT and the military custody of one of the key accused, the long-running and high-profile Ekram killing case has entered a significant new phase in its judicial process.