Ziaul Ahsan

Ahsan served as adjutant at the 4th East Bengal Regiment and was the company commander Charlie for the 14th East Bengal Regiment.^[14] He was promoted to major on 2000 and was designated as second in command of the 14th East Bengal Regiment at Savar Cantonment. He furthermore instructed at the East Bengal Regimental Centre for a significant duration. Ahsan was soon transferred to the Rapid Action Battalion on 2009 and remained the only army official to be designated outside of the army for a considerable length of time. Ahsan left the Rapid Action Battalion on 2016 with the rank of brigadier general and join the Ministry of Home Affairs the same year. He initially served as director of internal affairs at the National Security Intelligence. Ahsan was then tenured as the director general of National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre on 2020. He was ameliorated to major general in July 2022 and remained at the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre till his discharge on 6 August 2024. Major general Ridwanur Rahman succeeded him as the director general.^{[citation needed]}

Ahsan joined the Rapid Action Battalion on 5 March 2009 as the company commander for the second battalion at Agargaon of Dhaka. He was elevated to the rank of lieutenant colonel the same year and took charge as director of the RAB's intelligence wing on 27 August 2010.^[15][14] He was made the RAB's additional director general (operations) on 7 December 2013 after being promoted to colonel. He was promoted to brigadier general on 2015 and endured as the director of operations and furthermore acting proxy director general of the battalion. He is the only one star officer from the army to serve at the RAB so far.^[14]

Ahsan led a number of operations over last seven-and-a-half years. He played a role in the repatriation of Nur Hossain, main accused in the Narayanganj Seven Murder case from Kolkata.^[16] The RAB cited that Ahsan played crucial role in annihilating the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami, and the Ansarullah Bangla Team along with other extremist organizations whom were led by prominent local leaders including Sohel Rana and notorious criminals encompassed as such Amin Huda.^[17]

Ahsan has faced multiple allegations of involvement in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances while serving in the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the National Security Intelligence (NSI).^[18] Brigadier General Rashidul Alam has testified that he had seen Ahsan execute two individuals who were in custody of the RAB.^[19][20]

On 29 April 2014, while serving as the commanding officer of RAB-11, Ahsan allegedly ordered Lieutenant Colonel Tareque Sayeed and Major Arif Hossain to abduct and kill Narayanganj City Corporation councilor Nazrul Islam, which led to the Seven Murders of the Narayanganj. In a confessional statement, Major Arif claimed he had acted on Ahsan's orders. Ahsan has denied any involvement.^[18]

Following the Student–People's uprising and the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Ahsan was detained at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on 6 August 2024 while attempting to leave the country. He was subsequently dismissed from the army and taken into custody.^[21] On 16 August, a Dhaka court placed him on an eight-day remand for interrogation in connection with the death of a shopkeeper during protests in the capital's New Market area on 16 July 2024.^[22]

On 29 August 2024, a Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against Ahsan and four other former senior intelligence officials in a case involving the alleged abduction and enforced disappearance of brigadier general Abdullahil Amaan Azmi.^[23]

In October 2024, The Daily Star published detailed accounts from former RAB officers who alleged that Ahsan personally directed, and at times was present during, numerous acts of extrajudicial killings and torture. The officers described a secretive unit that operated under his command to carry out these operations.^[24]