In May 2020, journalist Mushtaq Ahmed was arrested along with cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore. Mr. Ahmed had simply published an article criticizing the fact that healthcare workers in Bangladesh lacked adequate personal protective equipment while taking care of Covid-19 patients. In this article, he shared a cartoon by Ahmed Kabir Kishore about the corruption of the government in response to the pandemic. They were both picked up by The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) who consequently handed them over to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. For nine whole months, they were both denied bail repeatedly until finally being charged in February of 2021.
On February 25, 2021, prison authorities told the media that Mushtaq Ahmed “suddenly fell ill” and was taken to the prison hospital. He passed away later that day. Human rights organizations have raised red flags and expressed deep concern that both Mushtaq Ahmed and Ahmed Kabir Kishore were tortured in custody by state security agencies.
It has been over 100 days since Mushtaq Ahmed died in police custody. The government of Bangladesh is yet to begin an independent investigation into his death and to hold the perpetrators accountable.
International and Bangladeshi human rights agencies have been expressing concern for years regarding the repressive measures adopted by the Bangladesh government to silence critical reporting by journalists and online critics. The most recent example is that of journalist Rozina Islam who was arrested in May 2021 while she was investigating the public health sector’s alleged corruption with regards to the pandemic. She was accused of stealing confidential official documents and espionage. Due to international outcry by human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Ms. Islam has been released on bail but if convicted, she faces up to 14 years in prison and perhaps even the death penalty.
The government of Bangladesh uses the repressive, undemocratic Digital Security Act as the pretext for the stifling of freedom of expression and speech and for the arrests of civilians who express even the slightest criticism of the official narrative presented by the ruling Awami League. Bangladeshis have been arrested for social media posts expressing any critique of Sheikh Hasina or her government, as was the case of Abrar Fahad, an engineering student who was beaten to death in the dormitory of the best engineering university in Bangladesh by the student wing members of Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League Party. No one was held accountable for this crime , either.
There are no doubts that freedom of speech and expression have no space under the current regime and that it has used the pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic to further its agenda to crack down on free speech. Freedom of the press faces systematic repression, with the arrest of journalists. Peaceful protests are met with severely violent crackdowns by law enforcement and informal groups used by the ruling party to curtail freedoms such as its student wing, the Chatra League.
There are several hundred people who have been reported to have been victims of enforced disappearances, while torture and custodial deaths have become all too common.