‘They threatened to rape us’: Miraj Sheikh’s sister accuses Coast Guard in Earth News podcast

The sister of missing fisherman Miraj Sheikh has accused Bangladesh Coast Guard personnel of harassment and torture, alleging that they detained her brother more than six months ago before denying any knowledge of his whereabouts.

Liza Islam, a mother of a four-year-old, recounted how her family believes Coast Guard personnel took her brother into custody and described their months-long search for answers, the intimidation they allegedly faced and the emotional toll of his disappearance.

Speaking on a podcast by Earth News in collaboration with The Dissent, published on Friday (October 23), Liza detailed the family’s efforts to trace Miraj and recounted the alleged abuse they endured while seeking information about him.

Miraj, 30, went missing on April 10 after reportedly being taken from near a tea stall close to the Coast Guard’s Harbaria station in Joymonir Ghol, Mongla. His family and several people who initially spoke about the incident said Coast Guard personnel took him away.

The Coast Guard has repeatedly denied detaining him, saying it has no information about his whereabouts.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) described the case as the first known alleged enforced disappearance in Bangladesh since the July Uprising. 

MIraj remains missing more than six months after his disappearance.

During the podcast, Liza presented what she said was a secretly recorded video of Mannah Majhi, in which he acknowledged that Miraj was on his boat when Coast Guard personnel took him from the Thoda jetty to the Harbaria station.

Liza also recounted how Musa Khan informed Miraj’s wife about the incident. According to her, Miraj’s wife saw Coast Guard personnel taking photographs with him while he was handcuffed.

She said Miraj was limping and walking slowly, suggesting he had been severely beaten. Coast Guard personnel pushed him as they put him aboard their boat, she said. The sight of her husband in that condition and the incident left his wife so distressed that she lost consciousness, according to Liza.

According to Liza, Miraj’s wife called the Harbaria station’s control centre at 10:53pm that day (April 10) to ask why he had been detained. The person who answered reportedly told her that Miraj had been detained as a suspect and would face a case if evidence was found against him; otherwise, he would be released.

When she called again the following day, the same official allegedly instructed her to go to the Coast Guard’s Dighraj base.

Liza said an official named Ukasingh at the Dighraj station told her to return in the afternoon, saying they would go on an operation with Miraj.

She further alleged that police officials, after several days, prepared the general diary (GD) entry themselves, stating that Miraj had gone missing near his home. They also told the family that a state force could not be accused in the complaint, she said.

“For two to three days, they admitted his detention,” Liza said, referring to the authorities’ initial response.

“Since then, why they have continued to deny it remains unknown to us to this day,” she said.

‘I wish it were all just a nightmare’

Liza also alleged that she, her mother and her sister-in-law were tortured on June 11 as hundreds of people gathered at a Coast Guard facility in the Joymoni area, demanding information about Miraj. 

During the podcast, she showed a video that appeared to depict Coast Guard members beating several people.

“They even threatened to rape three of us,” she said.

Two cases were filed following the incident. The Coast Guard’s case named 44 people and several hundred unidentified individuals.

Liza, her mother and her sister-in-law were among those accused. Liza said the three women spent 27 days in jail in connection with the cases.

The family has been left to cope with the uncertainty surrounding Miraj’s fate while holding on to the hope that he will return, Liza said.

“I haven’t seen my brother in a year. I still wish I could hear his voice just once. Sometimes, I listen to his voice messages on Messenger. I’ve saved all his voice messages in a file,” she said.

“I still yearn to talk to my brother. I keep thinking that he will come back. It has only been six months. Can’t he come back? Of course, he can. I wish it were all just a nightmare, that everything that has happened over all these months was just a nightmare, and that my brother would come back again.”

She said her mother cried every night during Tahajjud prayers, while she tried to console her mother and sister-in-law.

“I always try to stay strong for them,” she said.

Miraj’s young son, meanwhile, does not understand what has happened to his father, Liza said.

“My little nephew doesn’t understand any of this. He thinks his father is not here, but that he will come back. He doesn’t understand what enforced disappearance means.”

Bangladesh continues to grapple with the legacy of enforced disappearances during former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s rule.

An independent Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, formed by the former interim government, identified more than 1,500 cases of enforced disappearance between 2009 and 2024. At least 251 people never returned and are presumed dead, while 36 bodies were recovered, according to the commission’s findings.

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