Rights body Ain o Salish Kendra observed that people's right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression shrunk in 2022.

Human rights organisations face various forms of repressions and they are not able to work properly, ASK Executive Director Nur Khan told a press conference yesterday.

"The human rights situation in the country is dire," he said.

About the revelation of secret detention centres, Nur Khan said, "Secret prisons or detention centres or places of interrogation should be closed. Our law and constitution do not support these. Those who operate them should be identified."

The constitutional right to engage in politics, organisation, freedom of assembly are shrinking, said the ASK statement released during the event at the organisation's office in the capital. 

The law enforcers are responsible to ensure the rights recognised by the constitution, but they are the ones using excessive force. Also, when the ruling party activists attack others exercising their rights, the police do not take action, ASK observed.

Filing of phantom cases and conducting mass arrests before and after political programmes have become a regular practice by the law enforcers, it said.

During BNP's 10 recent rallies in different parts of the country, the party faced intimidations by law enforcers and ruling party supporters, it said, adding that such acts were clear violations of Article 36 of the constitution.

According to the ASK report, in 479 incidents of political violence in 2022, 70 people were killed and 6,914 were injured.

Section 144, which restricts assembly, was issued at least 36 times.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Calls to amend the Digital Security Act have fallen on deaf ears while the law was abused regularly, it said.

But the data on this law is hard to get from police and court these days, Nur Khan said.

At least 2,249 cases have been recorded under this act in 2022 in Rajshahi, Chattogram and Dhaka divisions, he said, adding that ASK could not access the data from the rest of the country.

The government tightened the control on digital media by formulating new laws and rules, it said.

Last June, the NGO Affairs Bureau rejected the application to renew the registration of rights organisation Odhikar, ASK said.

Five people were victims of enforced disappearance in 2022. Of them, four were shown arrested later while one returned.

People were detained by individuals claiming to be law enforcers, but the law enforcers didn't provide any information about the detention. Some of those individuals were recorded as arrested at a later time. "This is a clear violation of the law," the ASK stated.

According to ASK data, 19 people were victims of extrajudicial killings in 2022. Of them, four were killed in so-called gunfights with Rab.

"We want proper investigation of every extrajudicial killing. The investigation of every such incident stops at a point. This is why these incidents should be investigated by an independent commission," said the statement.