WikiLeaks reveals Bangladeshi ‘death squad’ trained by UK government

The Guardian reports:

The British government has been training a Bangladeshi paramilitary force condemned by human rights organisations as a “government death squad”, leaked US embassy cables have revealed.

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which has been held responsible for hundreds of extra-judicial killings in recent years and is said to routinely use torture, have received British training in “investigative interviewing techniques” and “rules of engagement”.

Details of the training were revealed in a number of cables, released by WikiLeaks, which address the counter-terrorism objectives of the US and UK governments in Bangladesh. One cable makes clear that the US would not offer any assistance other than human rights training to the RAB – and that it would be illegal under US law to do so – because its members commit gross human rights violations with impunity.

Since the RAB was established six years ago, it is estimated by some human rights activists to have been responsible for more than 1,000 extra-judicial killings, described euphemistically as “crossfire” deaths. In September last year the director general of the RAB said his men had killed 577 people in “crossfire”. In March this year he updated the figure, saying they had killed 622 people.

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2 thoughts on “WikiLeaks reveals Bangladeshi ‘death squad’ trained by UK government

  1. Vince J.

    The little puppy dog of the US, the British Government, after all, did comited a war crime when invaded Iraq in 2003.
    The fact they support murderes and terrorists just show how similar they are to the US.

    All those Royal Military/Navy bases are in fact american military bases… no sovereignty… just the illusion of it. Scum of the earth.

  2. Norman

    Offer assistance in human rights training, as anything else would be illegal under U.S. Law. It’s no wonder that the World has such a low opinion of the U.S., with all the contradictions that go on in its name. When the asylum is run by the inmates, then all semblance of sanity goes out the window into the honey pot.

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