Hefazat-e-Islam leader Mufti Shafiqul Islam gave a statement before International Crimes Tribunal-1 on Monday, describing his alleged abduction and torture by members of the Rapid Action Battalion’s Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) cell during the Awami League government. He said he was detained, blindfolded, and threatened with death if he did not confess to being involved in militancy. Shafiqul claimed he was told he would be killed and his body dumped at sea or left mentally unstable in Dhaka.

In his deposition, Shafiqul detailed his background as a religious scholar and principal of a madrasa in Purbachal, as well as his role as assistant secretary of Hefazat’s Dhaka Metropolitan Paltan zone. He recounted being taken from Mohammadpur on January 13, 2022, and held in small, dark rooms where he was interrogated and beaten. He said interrogators demanded he admit links to militant groups and cited previous detainees allegedly tortured in similar ways.

The testimony was presented as part of proceedings against 17 accused, including Sheikh Hasina and several current and former army officers, who face death sentences in the tribunal case.