Abdullahil Amaan Azmi () is a retired one star officer of Bangladesh army and

Human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and political activist. He was subjected to

enforced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

in 2016 and was held captive in ''

Aynaghar Aynaghar () is a colloquial term referring to a network of clandestine detention centers which were operated by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), the intelligence branch of Bangladesh's defence forces and Rapid Action Battalio ...

'', a secret detention center operated by the

Directorate General of Forces Intelligence The Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (), commonly known by its acronym DGFI, is the defense intelligence agency of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, tasked with collection, collation and evaluation of strategic and topographic informatio ...

. On August 6, 2024, he was released from ''Aynaghar'' following the

resignation of Sheikh Hasina On 5 August 2024, at around 3:00 p.m., Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on a helicopter with her sister, Sheikh Rehana, to India, arriving in Delhi via Agartala. Although she intended to record a spe ...

Early life and education

Azmi was born in 1958 at the Shah Shaheb Bari lodge, a

Sufi lodge A Sufi lodge is a building designed specifically for gatherings of a Sufi brotherhood or ''tariqa'' and is a place for spiritual practice and religious education. They include structures also known as ''khānaqāh'', ''zāwiya'', ''ribāṭ'' ...

in the nucleus of Old Dacca of then East Pakistan, Pakistan (now

Dhaka Division Dhaka Division () is an Divisions of Bangladesh, administrative division of Bangladesh. Dhaka serves as the capital city of Dhaka Division, the Dhaka District and Bangladesh. The division remains as a population magnet, and covers an area of 20, ...

, Bangladesh). He is the eldest son of

Ghulam Azam Ghulam Azam (7 November 192223 October 2014) was Bangladeshi politician and writer who served as Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. He was vocal in gaining support for Operation Searchlight, a crackdown o ...

, the former

Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami is the largest Islamist political party in Bangladesh. The origin of the party can be traced back to the original faction founded by Sayyid Abul A'la Maududi in 1941. The predecessor of Jamaat which is known as Jam ...

. Azmi finished elementary school at Government Laboratory High School and high school from the

Notre Dame College Notre Dame College (Notre Dame College of Ohio or NDC) was a private Roman Catholic college in South Euclid, Ohio. Established in 1922 by the Sisters of Notre Dame as a women's college, it was coeducational from January 2001 until its closure ...

. Azmi was enlisted to

Bangladesh Military Academy Bangladesh Military Academy (BMA) is the military training institute for the officer cadets of Bangladesh Army. It is located in Bhatiary, near the Chittagong Hill Tracts, in the Chittagong District of south-east Bangladesh about 13 kilometers ...

on 1979. He was awarded the sword of honour for his enormous confidential records as the top officer's cadet of 5th BMA long course. His parent unit was 14th

East Bengal Regiment The East Bengal Regiment () is one of the two infantry regiments of the Bangladesh Army, the other being the Bangladesh Infantry Regiment. East Bengal Regiment was founded by Major Abdul Gani. History The East Bengal Regiment was formed on ...

Military career

Azmi taught at the

East Bengal Regimental Centre East Bengal Regiment Centre (EBRC) is an infantry training centre of East Bengal Regiment of Bangladesh Army located in Chittagong Cantonment. Major General Towhidul Ahmed is the current commandant of the centre and flag officer commanding of t ...

, School of Infantry and Tactics and the

Defence Services Command and Staff College The Defence Services Command and Staff College (DSCSC) is situated at Batalanda, Makola (South) 12 Kilometers away from Colombo and its aim to develop the professional knowledge and understanding of experienced officers of the Sri Lanka Army, Sr ...

. He commanded two infantry

companies A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether natural, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specifi ...

under the 2nd and 11th East Bengal Regiment, one infantry battalion the 18th East Bengal Regiment and one infantry brigade at

Bandarban Cantonment Bandarban Cantonment () is a cantonment located in Bandarban. The headquarters of 69th Infantry Brigade of Bangladesh Army is located here. It is one of six cantonments in the Chittagong Hill Tracts The Chittagong Hill Tracts (), often short ...

. He was also the former station commander of

Ghatail Ghatail () is a town of Ghatail Upazila, Tangail, Bangladesh. The town is situated north of Tangail city and northwest of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Demographics According to the 2011 Bangladesh census In 2011, the Bangladesh Bureau ...

and commandant of the School of Military Intelligence at

Cumilla Cantonment Cumilla Cantonment () is a military station of the Bangladesh Army, located near Comilla, Bangladesh. History During the Second World War, a jungle warfare school was set up at Comilla by the 14th Indian Infantry Division, after the mid-1942 Al ...

. On 2009, Azmi was summarily dismissed from the army by Second Hasina ministry without pension and without any explanation. He had the rank of brigadier general at the time of his dismissal. On 12 November 2012, Azmi testified as a defence witness in the trial of his father,

, International Crimes Tribunal-1. He was the lone defence witness at the trial. Azmi's list on dismissal was withdrawn by the Yunus administration and furthermore, given a proper retirement on 26 December 2024.

Disappearance and release

Azmi was detained by plainclothes officers of Bangladesh Police on 24 August 2016 from his home in

Moghbazar Maghbazar () or Mogbazar is a neighbourhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is located near the neighbourhoods of Tejgaon, Segunbagicha, Ramna and Malibagh, under the jurisdiction of Ramna and Hatirjheel thanas. Its origins date back to the Mughal Em ...

, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Around the same time, two other sons of opposition leaders were detained, Hummam Quader Chowdhury, son of Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, and Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, son of Mir Quasem Ali. Azmi's father died in 2014 while in jail after being convicted for war crimes in the Bangladesh Liberation war. In March 2017, Hummam Quader Chowdhury was released, and he could not say who had detained him. In 2022, an investigation by the Swedish based news network ''

Netra News Netra News () is a Sweden-based investigative and public interest journalism platform focusing on Bangladesh. The platform was launched on December 26, 2019, by Tasneem Khalil, an exiled Bangladeshi journalist currently living in Sweden, who ser ...

'' revealed that Azmi was being held at

, a secret prison run by the

Release

Azmi was released from Aynaghar on 6 August 2024, the day after Prime Minister

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina (''née'' Wazed; born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. Premiership of Sheikh Hasina, Her ...

resigned and fled Bangladesh following popular protests. After being admitted into a hospital for better treatment, he said, "How long have I not seen the light and air, I have not seen the world of Allah, I have not been allowed to hear the call to prayer. The amount of tears that I have wiped on this towel, if collected, a lake could have been made."

Views and activism

Azmi is notable for his

Anti-Indian Anti-Indian sentiment or anti-Indianism, also called Indophobia, refers to prejudice, collective hatred, and discrimination which is directed at Indian people for any variety of reasons. According to Kenyan-American academic Ali Mazrui, Indo ...

stance. On 23 October 2014 Ghulam Azam died at the Bangubandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University. Azmi expressed dismay with the

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...

for not speaking about the death of his father. He led the Janazah prayer at the funeral of his father at the

Baitul Mukarram National Mosque Baitul Mukarram (), officially Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, is the national mosque of Bangladesh. It is located at the center of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The mosque was completed in 1968.Thariani and Co: Architects and Engineers. B ...

. In 2015, Azmi controversially challenged the number of Indian soldiers killed in the

Bangladesh Liberation war The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

following a Facebook post by Journalist Anjan Roy. He also questioned the number of Bangladeshi citizens killed in the

Bangladesh genocide The Bangladesh genocide was the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis residing in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the Bangladesh Liberation War, perpetrated by the Pakistan Army and the Razakar (Pakistan), Razakars. It began on 25 March 1971, as ...

. There have been claims that the unit of “lakh” was mistranslated to a million increasing the claimed deaths tenfold. This triggered criticism from Bangladesh civil society members and media. In September 2024, Azmi proposed the change of

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

and

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. He further proposed to assemble a national committee that will prevent passing laws contradictory to Islam.He critiqued the 3 million death toll figure during the

1971 Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which resulted in the independence ...

saying a census was carried out where the death toll was 286,000.

References