Refugees also said their families received irregular and insufficient food rations. Yousuf, 47, said, The food ration varies every month and sometimes the quantity and quality of the ration we are given varies a lot. Families often get rotten onions, ginger, or garlic which they can’t even use for cooking. Quantity of rice is distributed per person, but for other items the quantity remains the same per family no matter how big your family is. After experiencing the conditions on the island, hundreds of refugees have tried to leave. Human Rights Watch spoke with 17 Rohingya refugees who escaped to Cox’s Bazar. Shah Alam, 32, told Human Rights Watch that he left because “there is no security of life on that island.” On April 6, 2021, authorities detained a group of refugees, including children, attempting to escape. The families of two of the detained Rohingya said that they had no information about the whereabouts of their relatives. Faruk, 17, the brother of one of the detained children, told Human Rights Watch on April 12, “A few days back my brother called me from a police officer’s phone and told me that they had been removed from the island, but my brother could not tell where he was. Since then, we have not been able to contact him again.” They also said that unidentified people claiming to be from the police had demanded a bribe to provide information. Taslima, 40, the mother of one of the detained refugees, said that someone claiming to be a police officer threatened to kill her son in “crossfire,” a euphemism in Bangladesh for an extrajudicial execution, unless the family paid a bribe. “He threatened us, saying that we should keep ready cash, or they would target my son in a crossfire,” she said. “We said we could not afford to pay and asked where my son was now. The man said, ‘Pay the money first, then your son will be safe.’” Witnesses said that security forces beat the refugees during interrogation in the newly built police station on the island and that, during the interrogation, a police officer said: “Tell your Rohingyas that if they think to escape their fate will be the same.” The authorities also raided Bhasan Char housing to identify those missing, and beat residents “AN ISLAND JAIL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA” 8