Australian (New South Wales) lawmaker Ms. Abigail Boyd on September 27, 2023, demanded her parliament to request the Australian government to impose Magnitsky Style sanctions against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh for its serious human rights violations and other crimes over the past 15 years. In her speech, she pointed out the fraudulent national elections of 2014 and 2018, enforced disappearances and the faulty justice system in the country. She also demanded the immediate release of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who is inhumanly suffering under the personal and political vengeance of Sheikh Hasina. The influential Green Party parliamentarian also demanded the next election in Bangladesh to be free, fair, and acceptable by all.
The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) greatly appreciates the genuine initiative of Australian lawmaker Ms. Abigail Boyd and urges other parliamentarians of the country to support her demands to the Australian government.
There is a strong global call for the next election in Bangladesh to be free, fair, participatory, and peaceful, which can only be possible under a non-partisan, neutral caretaker government (CTG). The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led opposition has been demanding the election to be held under a CTG, further threatening that it would not participate in any election managed by the repressive Sheikh Hasina-led administration, which proved time and again that it was incapable of holding a credible election.
Honoring the call of the Australian parliamentarian, CHRD Bangladesh reiterates, once again, that the next national election, due in January 2024, must be administered by a neutral CTG, after completely overhauling the existing electoral systems installed with partisan and loyal elements by the ruling Awami League.