Bangladesh: Government continues targeting activists and criminalising opposition members ahead of UN human rights review

Bangladesh is rated ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. The country was added to the Watch List in September 2023 due to the serious and rapid decline in respect for civic space.

Ahead of national elections - scheduled for January 2024 - there has been an escalating crackdown on the opposition, activists and dissenting voices in Bangladesh. The authorities have ramped up their targeting of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Thousands of fabricated cases have been filed against them, while protests by the opposition have been met with restrictions and excessive force, including tear gas and live ammunition.

The government has also escalated its harassment of human rights defenders and have also increasingly attempted to silence the media through censorship and the arbitrary detention and legal harassment of journalists. It also continues to use enforced disappearances as a tool to suppress political movements and silence dissenting voices, creating a climate of fear in the country.

The European Parliament issued a resolution om 14th September 2023 on the human rights situation in Bangladesh. Among other issues, it expressed deep concern at the deteriorating human rights situation in Bangladesh and deplored the prison sentences imposed on the two Odhikar activists. It recalled that an Everything but Arms (EBA) enhanced engagement process remains ongoing with Bangladesh owing to its serious violations of international conventions and called on the authorities to repeal the Digital Security Act and adopt cybersecurity legislation that fully complies with international standards.

On 13th November 2023, Bangladesh’s human rights record will be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council. A report submitted by CIVICUS and the Asian Legal Resource Centre highlighted that out of the 29 recommendations related to civic space it received in 2017 – of which 22 recommendations were accepted - it partially implemented only one recommendation.

The submission noted the harassment of critical human rights groups as well as the criminalisation and harassment of and threats and attacks on human rights defenders, journalists and critics, with impunity. Concerns were also raised on restrictions on press freedom, the systematic use of the Digital Security Act to silence dissent and unwarranted restrictions and use of excessive force to crush protests.

Over the last month, two human rights defenders from Odhikar were jailed but have been released on bail, while Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus continues to face judicial harassment. Enforced disappearances continued to be reported as well as the arrest, acceleration of hearings and conviction of opposition party leaders and supporters. Opposition leaders and activists were also picked up ahead of a planned protest.

Association

Human rights defenders from Odhikar convicted and released on bail

On 14th September 2023, human rights defenders Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasiruddin Elan from prominent Bangladeshi human rights organisation Odhikar were sentenced by the Cyber Tribunal of Dhaka to two years’ of prison and a 10,000 Bangladeshi Taka (USD 91) fine each in retaliation for their work documenting human rights violations in Bangladesh.

72 civil society organisations including CIVICUS slammed the conviction and urged the authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally.

The two were then taken to Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj. During their detention, the jail authorities did not provide Adil and Elan with division status (privileges and amenities determined by the status of the prisoner), defying a court order.

On 25th September 2023, lawyers for Adilur and Elan filed an appeal with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court challenging the trial court verdict. They also sought interim bail until the disposal of their appeal. On 5th October, the Attorney General’s office appealed to the High Court Division to increase their two-year jail term.

On 10th October, the High Court bench of Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad granted them bail for one year and admitted their appeal for a hearing. The court also suspended the fine. However, it took five days before they were released on 15th October, by which time they had spent 30 days in jail.

As previously documented, following the 2013 publication of Odhikar’s fact-finding report documenting extrajudicial killings during a protest, both defenders were arbitrarily detained. After being released on bail, they continued to face prosecution and judicial harassment on trumped-up allegations that their 2013 report was “fake, distorted, and defamatory.”

After years of stalling, Bangladeshi judicial authorities accelerated the hearings in their case following the designation of US sanctions against the country’s notoriously abusive paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and its officials in December 2021, blaming human rights organisations like Odhikar for this outcome. Their case has been marred by due process violations, such as the failure to provide the defence with advance information on the prosecution witnesses or a copy of the Criminal Investigation Department’s further investigation report until the day before a hearing.

In addition to targeting Odhikar’s leaders, the government interfered with the organisation’s ability to conduct its human rights work by blocking their access to funds and keeping its registration renewal application pending since 2014. Following the US sanction designations, the government increased surveillance and harassment against those affiliated with Odhikar and ordered the organisation to provide sources and proof for its findings of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. In June 2022, the Government’s NGO Affairs Bureau officially denied Odhikar’s application for renewal.

Ongoing judicial harassment of Nobel Laureate Mohammad Yunus

Human rights group Amnesty International on 19th September 2023 called on the government to stop weaponising labour laws and immediately end the harassment and intimidation of the Nobel Peace Laureate Mohammad Yunus.

Mohammad Yunus, who is also the chairman of the board at Grameen Telecom, is accused of employment-related violations and faces a criminal case in Bangladesh under the Labour Act 2006. Three other board members, Ashraful Hasan, Nur Jahan Begum and Mohammad Shahjahan, face the same charges.

According to Amnesty International, the ongoing trial is just one of more than 150 cases filed against Mohammad Yunus after the ruling Awami League party came into power in 2008. The group believes that the charges were “a blatant abuse of labour laws and the justice system and a form of political retaliation for his work and dissent.”

The group also noted that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has publicly attacked Mohammad Yunus on many occasions and the unusual speed in which the trial against Yunus is proceeding stands in stark contrast with other labour rights-related court cases in Bangladesh.

Enforced disappearances continued to be reported

As previously documented, human rights groups have systematically reported on enforced disappearances in Bangladesh by law enforcement agencies, particularly the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the Detective Branch of the police, who are responsible for the majority of enforced disappearances in the country. Most of the victims of enforced disappearance have been identified as leaders and activists of opposition parties and dissidents.

According to Odhikar, Rahmat Ullah remains disappeared after he was picked up allegedly by RAB members from his home in Baranalai Village under Gangutia Union of Dhaka’s Dhamrai Upazila. Family members claimed that Rahmat Ullah was picked up by a group who said they were members of RAB on 29th August 2023.

The group also reported that on 18th September 2023, Jihad Hossain was picked up by 10-12 plainclothes men claiming to be members of the Detective Branch (DB) of Police from Jashore. Jahid‟s father Asaduzzaman alleged that the men came to their house around 2:00 am and picked up his son. Asaduzzaman lodged a complaint with the police station following the incident. Since then, the whereabouts of Jahid remain unknown.

Continued arrest and conviction of opposition party leaders and supporters

There have been systematic efforts to target the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in recent months. Thousands have also been arbitrarily arrested by the authorities. Police and mobs of alleged ruling Awami League party supporters have also attacked BNP protesters.

There have been reports of the authorities’ accelerating hearings and even holding night-time trials. It is believed the government is trying to rush these trials ahead of the upcoming elections.

On 9th October 2023, the authorities sentenced 15 leaders and activists of BNP, including the party chairperson’s adviser Habibur Rahman Habib, vice-chairman and former lawmaker Md Shahjahan and former lawmaker Mohammad Ahsan Habib Lincoln, to four years imprisonment in a case from 2015 of setting vehicles on fire and preventing police from discharging their duties.

Police arrested Shaheed Uddin Chowdhury Annie, publicity secretary of BNP, on 11th October 2023 from his Dhanmondi residence on allegations of ‘sabotage’. He alleged that he was tortured while under police custody in the Dhanmondi Police Station.

On 14th October 2023, the BNP office said that around 300 leaders and activists were arrested in the first two weeks of October 2023. Further, at least 14 cases were filed against 323 named and unnamed BNP leaders and activists in Chattogram, Jashore, Kushtia and Narayanganj in the past seven days.

According to BNP sources, at least 97 leaders and activists of BNP and its front organisations have been convicted and jailed across the country over the last eight months or so.

Peaceful Assembly

Opposition leaders and activists picked up before protest

On 18th October 2023, members of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police picked up over a dozen leaders of the main opposition BNP and its associated organisations at places in Dhaka, several hours before the opposition’s planned rally, the party alleged.

According to reports, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi mentioned names of 13 leaders including BNP organising secretary Ruhul Quddus Talukder Dulu and said that they were detained ahead of the rally.

The police were also reportedly conducting extensive searches in residential hotels around the BNP central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka.

On 19th October 2023, New Age reported that altogether over 200 leaders and activists of the BNP were arrested by the police during checking raids in Dhaka ahead of the rally. BNP leaders and activists alleged that they faced police obstruction and arrests while entering Dhaka to attend the party rally. Police checked BNP activists’ cell phones, stopped vehicles carrying them, and forced many not to attend the rally.