| Tofayel Mustafa Sorwar | |||||||||||||
| Birth Date: | 7 December 1973 | ||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | Sunamganj, Chittagong, Bangladesh | ||||||||||||
| Branch: | Bangladesh Army | ||||||||||||
| Serviceyears: | 1994-present | ||||||||||||
| Rank: | Brigadier General | ||||||||||||
| Servicenumber: | BA - 4922 | ||||||||||||
| Unit: | Bangladesh Infantry Regiment | ||||||||||||
| Commands: |
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| Battles: | MONUSCO UNMIL MINUSMA | ||||||||||||
| Module: |
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Tofayel Mustafa Sorwar is a Bangladesh Army Brigadier General and the former Additional Director General (Operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) an elite multi-service unit of the Bangladesh Police.[1] [2] He has been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for human rights violation at RAB during his time at the agency.[3] [4]
Sorwar was born on 7 December 1973 in Sunamganj District, Bangladesh (now in Sylhet Division).
Sorwar was commissioned on the 31st BMA Long Course of Bangladesh Military Academy on 19 December 1993.[5]
Sorwar previously served in Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and Army Intelligence.[5] He had also served in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and commanded an infantry battalion.[5]
On 29 June 2019, Sorwar was promoted to colonel and appointed the Additional Director General (Operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion replacing Colonel Mohammad Jahangir Alam.[6] [7] He previously served as the Deputy Commander of Bangladeshi Battalion-5 of MONUSCO in Congo.[5] [8] He had served in the Bangladeshi Battalion-4 in the United Nations Mission in Liberia and Bangladeshi Battalion-5 in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali.[5]
On 30 July 2019, Sorwar was part of the Bangladesh delegation that went to 1769th Meeting of the 67th Session of Committee Against Torture titled Consideration of Bangladesh.[9] The committee called for an investigation on allegation of human rights violation by RAB.[10] On 18 September 2019, Sorwar sought permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs to go to Canada to purchase a backpack IMSI-catcher, a mass surveillance device, along with Md. Jahangir Alam, Joint Secretary of the Public Security Division.[11] [12] On 26 October 2020, he oversaw the detention of Erfan Selim, son of member of parliament Haji Mohammad Salim.[13] He also saw the creation of an app that tracked COVID-19 infections of RAB members during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh.[2] He oversaw the investigation of the Murder of Major Sinha Mohammed Rashed Khan.[14] [15] The accused in the Major Sinha murder case alleged he was tortured by Sorwar in custody.[16] He oversaw the arrest of Salim Prodhan.[17]
On 16 March 2021, Colonel Khan Mohammad Azad replaced Sorwar as the Additional Director General (Operations) at the Rapid Action Battalion.[18] He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.[19] He currently the Station Commander of Savar Cantonment & the President of Cantonment Board. He is the chairperson of the Development Committee of Savar Golf Club.
On 10 December 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury added Sorwar to its Specially Designated Nationals list (SDN) under the Global Magnitsky Act for engaging in serious human rights abuses relating to his tenure at RAB.[20] He was one of seven serving and former officers of RAB to be sanction by the United States.[21] [22]