Mr. Islam was a well?known labour rights activist in Bangladesh. Being a former garment worker, he advocated for safer factories and for workers to organize themselves. He also had been active in a campaign to raise the workers' minimum wage. Recently, he was working on a campaign to organize workers of a company that manufactures ready?to?wear apparel for US clothing companies. In the days before his death, he had been registering complaints of workers at Shanta Group, a company that produces clothing for Hilfiger, Nike and Ralph Lauren. In March 2012, workers of Shanta Group approached Mr. Islam claiming managers were beating them and sexually harassing female co?workers. In March 2012, BCWS was featured in an ABC News investigation into labour violations in Bangladesh's apparel industry. Mr. Islam helped ABC News to expose the dangerous working conditions at garment factories and also helped arrange interviews for ABC News with survivors of one of the 2011 factory fires that killed 29 workers. After the broadcast, Phillips?Van Heusen Corporation (PVH), owners of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, made a public announcement to invest more than $1 million to improve standards in the factories that produce their clothing. 4 April 2012 Mr. Islam came to work around 12:15pm at BCWS in Baipail, near Dhaka. At around 6:30pm, he headed out to the mosque for his prayers. When he left BCWS, he saw a police van parked outside and he became worried about surveillance. He called his colleague, Ms. Laboni Akhter, and suggested that they close the centre. Both of them closed the centre and left through the back entrance. Mr. Islam received a phone call from a worker named Mr. Mustafizur Rahman, requesting his assistance on a personal matter. First he denied but after continued being asked by Mr. Rahman, he agreed to help him and told him to meet each other at Jirani Bazar. Mr. Islam then took a rickshaw and headed towards the Baipail bus stop to take a bus ride to Jirani Bazar to meet with Mr. Rahman. After about 30 or 40 minutes, Ms. Laboni received a call from Mr. Rahman, saying that he was still waiting for Mr. Islam, whose phone was switched off. At around 9:30pm Ms. Laboni received a call from Mr. Islam's wife, Ms. Hosne Ara, asking about her husband because he had not come home and his phone was switched off. Ms. Laboni immediately informed BCWS leaders who called the Ashulia police station to check if Mr. Islam had been arrested. They made several phone calls to the police, but they responded that they had no information about Mr. Islam. 5 April 2012 Ms. Hosne Ara and a senior BCWS organizer went to Ashulia police station to lodge a missing person report. The police initially refused to register the case since it was not yet 24 hours since Mr. Islam had gone missing. BCWS leaders contacted various security agencies including the National Security Intelligence, Rapid Action Battalion, Industrial Police, Special Branch, Detective Branch, as well as several hospitals. The missing person report was accepted and registered as General Diary number?357 the next day at 10:15 am. 5 April 2012 Local police in Ghatail discovered Mr. Islam's body dumped by a roadside outside the Brakhon Sashon Women College, near Tangail?Mymensingh highway, almost 100 km north from Baipail, where he was last seen. The police officials were unable to identify the body, so they photographed and buried it. Mr. Islam's body bore marks of torture, his right leg had injuries under the knee, his toes had been smashed, both knees had coagulated blood, and there were several bruises on the body. There was also a hole in one of his legs made by a sharp object. 6 April 2012 Mr. Islam's body was buried as nobody had come to claim his body. 7 April 2012 Mr. Islam's wife saw a picture of her husband's body in a local newspaper named Amar Desh. After seeing this, she called BCWS leaders. Her family members decided to go to the Ghatail Police Station to ascertain that the found body was Mr. Islam's body. They were joined by Mr. Islam's colleagues at BCWS. The police showed them photographs, and the family positively identified the body as being Mr. Islam. Ghatail police chief Mr. Mahbubul Haq told journalists: "He[Islam] was murdered. His legs had severe torture marks including a hole made by a sharp object. All his toes were broken." 9 April 2012 At the request of his family, Mr. Islam's body was exhumed and moved to a site near his home. His brother, Mr. Rafiqul Islam said he saw apparent torture marks on the body: "We found several marks of wounds from his waist to his foot." Family members of Mr. Islam suspect that the members of the law enforcement agencies kidnapped him, brought him to an unknown location, brutally tortured him and after his death, left his body near Tangail?Mymensingh highway in Ghatail area. BCWS colleague Ms. Kalpona Akter accuses Bangladeshi security forces and garment firm owners of being responsible for Mr. Islam's murder.