The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) expresses its serious concerns at the continuing violations of human rights– many leading to lethal consequences– under the repressive regime of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh.
The immunized draconian Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and fearsome police continued their dreadful acts against the people under the despised Digital Security Act (DSA), which was designed to prevent people from criticizing the rampant corruption and high-stake wrongdoings of the regime and members of the ruling family. Many victims succumbed to inhuman treatment while in custody.
The latest victim is Sultana Jasmine, an official in the northern district of Naogaon. She was unlawfully arrested on March 22, 2023. When she was about to die, allegedly under RAB brutality, a police case was orchestrated against her, 31 hours after the arrest. Jasmine succumbed to a head injury within hours, in the morning of March 24. (See the full report @ Sued under DSA: Woman dies in Rab custody | The Daily Star)
Mohinur Khan, brother of Zulkarnain Khan, an Al Jazeera Investigative Journalist, was brutalized for his brother’s investigative journalism on behalf of Al Jazeera. Zulkarnain worked for Al Jazeera’s “All the Prime Minister’s Men”, which in 2021 exposed criminal connections of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the then Army Chief General Aziz Ahmed. Khan also worked for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Full report @ Bangladesh investigative journalist’s brother ‘beaten with rods’ | Freedom of the Press News | Al Jazeera
In December 2021, The United States government imposed sanctions on RAB and its top officials for serious human rights violations which included extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, unlawful arrests and brutality while in custody. Most victims were political opponents or critics of the Hasina regime. The sanctions produced negligible impacts and the repressive regime continued to demonstrate defiance to the U.S. sanctions. Violations continued unabated.
CHRD Bangladesh urges the U.S. government and other international authorities and rights organizations to impose stronger and effective sanctions against a wider range of operatives on the repressive regime in Bangladesh. It may be noted that directives for all such repressions and violations originate from the Prime Minister who has been holding on to power illegally through successive election fraud since 2009. India, Hasina’s all-weather sponsor, reiterated recently that it would stand by the Hasina regime.
In view of the run up to the election later this year, the fascist tools of the regime have been sharpened against the political opposition, which continue to demand an immediate end to the illegal regime and hold a fair and credible election under a neutral caretaker government (CTG). The past three elections and thousands of local level polls demonstrated that the ruling Awami League under Sheikh Hasina is absolutely incapable of holding fair elections.
CHRD Bangladesh urges the United States and other global authorities not to be fooled by Sheikh Hasina’s assurances of fairness and insist on holding the next election under a non-partisan, neutral Caretaker Government (CTG). This is the only way forward if even a semblance of democracy, respect for human rights and good governance in Bangladesh are to exist.