U.S. OUSTS EX-SOLDIER MAN ADMITS TORTURING BANGLADESH VILLAGERS.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

STEVENSON RANCH - A former military leader from Bangladesh who had admitted torturing villagers to influence an election there left his Stevenson Ranch home Wednesday after losing a battle with immigration officials to stay in this country.

Sazzad Ahmed Bipu, 35, a former second lieutenant in the Bangladeshi army, left voluntarily on a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to the southern Asian nation, said Robert Bryant, Los Angeles-based deputy chief counsel for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

His wife, Farhana Ahmed, and son were given permission to stay in the U.S. for about a month to sell the family's two Northridge restaurants, as well as their home, Bryant said.

Bipu's departure on a commercial flight capped a nearly decade-long battle by immigration officials to deport him.

In immigration proceedings, which began in 1996, Bipu testified that as a Bangladeshi officer he was ordered to intimidate villagers into voting for candidates of the Bangladeshi National Party, which eventually lost the election.

His troops ran tanks across the villagers crops, bribed people to secure their cooperation and participated in an acts of torture, according to court records.

``He stated his superiors wanted him to physically bend people's ideas, and that although he had been given beating training, he only tortured people ``maybe just one time,'' Bryant said, reading from Bipu's testimony. ``Upon questioning, Bipu admitted there were `a lot of things he did' but he didn't want to do these things. He and his men were following orders.''

Bipu testified he took part in detaining about 20 villagers who supported the opposition party and forced them to stand submerged to their necks ``in very cold pond water'' overnight in the middle of winter to coerce them into supporting the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Bryant said.

Bipu admitted participating in the torture at least once, and testified that he stood by and watched while his troops tortured villagers on several other occasions, according to the immigration investigation.

Bipu's 1995 visa classified him as a nonimmigrant visitor in the U.S. for pleasure. He overstayed the visa, which expired in March 1996, sought immigrants' benefits but they were denied after it was disclosed he had participated in torturing his countrymen, according to immigration officials.

Bipu appealed, but in an April 27 ruling this year, his appeal was denied. In a four-page ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeal for the 9th Circuit, justices found that Bipu had persecuted Bangladesh visitors and that he would not be subject to such treatment if he returned.

``The United States will not allow itself to be a haven for those who have committed crimes against humanity,'' said Johnson Salter, Los Angeles chief counsel for the immigration agency.

Patricia Farrell Aidem, [phone]

pat.aidem(at)dailynews.com