Respect political opponents’ rights to freedom of association: HRW to Govt

Bangladesh authorities should respect the rule of law and protect political opposition supporters' right to freedom of association, and peaceful assembly, a Human Rights Watch report said today.

The New York-based human rights organisation claimed that opposition groups are reporting an escalation of repression by Bangladesh authorities and attacks by ruling party supporters as the country starts preparing for national elections in 2023.

"Mass arrests and police raids of opposition party members' homes raise serious concerns about violence and intimidation ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections. Bangladesh election campaigns are often accompanied by violence, but the authorities have failed to properly investigate and prosecute members and supporters of the ruling Awami League, who have targeted opposition public meetings and assaulted participants," it said.

"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly said that Bangladesh is a mature democracy capable of conducting elections and a peaceful transition of power, but instead previous polls have been marked by violence, attacks on the opposition, and voter intimidation," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "These recent cases of political attacks and arrests set an ominous tone for the upcoming parliamentary elections."

At least four people have reportedly died and hundreds have been injured in clashes between police, supporters of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and Awami League supporters, since August 22, 2022, when the BNP staged a series of protests over fuel and commodity price increases, the report claimed.

According to BNP leaders, at least 20,000 cases have been filed against its supporters, in many cases with the accused unnamed. The use of criminal complaints against large numbers of "unknown" people is a common abusive practice in Bangladesh, allowing the police to intimidate and threaten virtually anyone with arrest, to repeatedly re-arrest detainees even though they are not the named accused in the cases, and to thwart bail requests, the report said.

HRW said law enforcement officers have used these open cases as warrants to raid the homes of political opposition members in what appears to be overt political harassment and intimidation.

"Bangladesh law enforcement are under increased scrutiny following US human rights sanctions and with parliamentary elections on the horizon," Ganguly said. "Diplomats in Bangladesh should raise concerns publicly and privately that such repression threatens the conditions for a free and fair election."