Bangladesh: Journalists, online critics and activists targeted as new government takes power

Bangladesh’s civic space is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. There are ongoing concerns on the targeting of journalists, the failure to repeal restrictive laws, continued police impunity, restrictions against the opposition, the need to ensure an enabling environment for civil society and accountability for past crimes.

As noted by Amnesty International, freedom of expression, association and assembly remained unnecessarily restricted under the interim government. Individuals, including human rights defenders, were subjected to arbitrary arrests and harassment for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Following elections on 14th February 2026, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, won 212 seats, followed by 77 for the Jamaat-led alliance that emerged as the main opposition party. The National Citizen Party (NCP), a Jamaat ally born out of the protests, came in third place with six of the 30 seats it contested. The Awami League was barred from participating in the elections. The general elections were also accompanied by a national referendum on “the July Charter”, aimed at reforming state institutions. The elections ended eighteen months of interim rule following the 2024 uprising that ousted former premier Sheikh Hasina.

According to Odhikar’s monitoring, from 13th February to 31st March 2026 at least 10 people were killed and 497 were injured in post-election violence.

In March 2026, nine NGOs wrote to the new Bangladeshi government to draw their attention to some of the most urgent human rights challenges facing Bangladesh and to offer recommendations to protect human rights standards and support systematic reform and accountability.

On 26th May 2026, civil society groups issued a joint statement urging the government to ensure truth, justice, and reparation for victims and their families and guarantees of non-recurrence of enforced disappearances in observance of the International Week of the Disappeared.

In recent months, journalist have been restricted, detained and charged while the authorities have arrested individuals for their online expression critical of the state. A woman human rights defender has been accused of spreading false information, lawyers were arrested for holding a public gathering and a human rights defender was harassed at the airport. The new government has failed to enact ordinances related to establishing an effective human rights body and on enforced disappearances while Awami League members continue to be criminalised.

Expression

Concerns around press freedom

Press freedom remains a concern in Bangladesh. The country dropped to 152nd place in the recent World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), published at the end of April 2026. In March 2026, RSF reported that since August and September 2024, five journalists have been detained and are still awaiting trial. More than 140 media professionals are facing baseless legal charges, some of which are particularly serious, notably the accusations of killing protesters and, for at least 25 of them, alleged “crimes against humanity.”

According to information collected by Odhikar, during the period from 18th February to 31st March 2026, while performing professional duties, 25 journalists were injured, three were assaulted and seven journalists were sued.

Army detains media outlet staff in Dhaka over protest coverage

EU SEE reported that on 8th February 2026, army personnel entered the office of online news outlet Bangladesh Times in Dhaka’s Nikunja area and detained 21 staff members, including journalists, security guards, and office assistants, while they were working at night.

According to the outlet’s editor-in-chief, the incident followed the publication of a video showing an individual criticising the army during a protest organised by Inqilab Moncho in Dhaka. He reported receiving a call from someone identifying himself as linked to a nearby army camp, warning the newsroom against publishing such content. The staff members were taken to an army camp for questioning and released approximately two hours later. A military official described the incident as a minor matter and did not provide detailed justification.

Journalists facing vague new charges

Ekattor Television journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Haque are facing new charges filed at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), reportedly in relation to a ‘misleading’ report on the deadly crackdown on protesters at the Shapla Square in May 2013.

Farzana Rupa is Ekattor Television’s chief reporter and Mozammel Haque is its managing director. While Ekattor TV is a private media outlet, it is considered sympathetic to the ousted Awami League government.

According to Amnesty International, the charges against the two, brought on 7th March 2026, relate to their reporting of the deadly crackdown during the Shapla Square protests in May 2013 on members of Hefazat-e-Islam, a conservative religious movement in Bangladesh. Media reports stated the prosecutor alleged the TV channel aired a ‘misleading’ report, implying there were no casualties, to distract the public from the actual death toll.

On 5th May 2013, approximately 200,000 Hefazaat protesters were met with brutal repression by security forces. The Shapla Square death toll has long been contested.

Both journalists were already in pre-trial detention on charges relating to the 2024 July protests. Farzana Rupa has been in pretrial detention since August 2024 and faces nine murder charges. Mozammel Haque has been in pretrial detention since September 2024 and faces five charges – four for murder and one for extortion. All the murder cases contain multiple accused named in the First Information Report (FIR), with some cases having over 200 alleged perpetrators.

Amnesty International said: “Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Haque, who are already in detention, now face vague new charges relating to a story that was aired more than a decade ago. Their arrest in a case related to crimes against humanity is an affront to fundamental principles of press freedom and sets a dangerous precedent that threatens the right of all journalists to report without fear of retaliation.”

On 11th May 2026, the High Court in Dhaka granted Rupa ad-interim bail in six of those cases, but she remains in jail because of pending charges, including the ICT case.

There have been concerns that the ICT, which was established under Hasina’s government in 2010 to address crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 independence war, has been fraught with violations of fair trial standards. The interim government has issued important amendments but still falls short of international fair trial standards.

Travel restrictions against journalist

According to EU SEE, on 3rd May 2026, journalist Nazrul Islam Mithu, Dhaka correspondent of the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur and president of the Overseas Correspondents Association Bangladesh (OCAB), was reportedly denied boarding clearance by immigration authorities at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka, and prevented from boarding a scheduled flight to China.

The incident occurred after he had collected his boarding pass and reached the immigration counter. He was reportedly called by name, taken to the office of the immigration Special Superintendent of Police, and questioned about his identity, profession, OCAB role, travel purpose, and whether any case existed against him. An immigration official, speaking anonymously, told The Business Standard that he was stopped due to “objections from intelligence officials.”

The incident occurred on World Press Freedom Day and one day after OCAB reportedly called for an end to repression against journalists during a programme in Dhaka. Mithu later described the restriction in a Facebook post.

Individuals arrested for criticising government online

The government have arrested individuals in Bangladesh for posting social media content supposedly critical of the new Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government.

According to Human Rights Watch, on 31st March 2026, Azizul Haque, a Jamaat party supporter, was arrested in Muktagachha, northern Bangladesh, after ruling party supporters complained about a controversial depiction of the prime minister that was shared on Haque’s Facebook page. The police arrested him under section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The provision allows arrest without a warrant if authorities have “credible information” of a “cognisable offence,” and has been used in the past to enable arbitrary arrests. They later applied the Cyber ​​Security Ordinance and the Anti-Terrorism Act.

On 2nd April 2026, members of the ruling party’s youth wing, Jubo Dal, abducted Shaon Mahmud and handed him over to the police in Sreenagar, near Dhaka, for allegedly “insulting” the prime minister on Facebook. Mahmud was then arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act, and the police said they were investigating multiple posts that could be “anti-state.”

On 5th April 2026, Sawoda Sumi, a supporter of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party, was arrested under section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Bhola municipality, southern Bangladesh, for allegedly posting comments on Facebook that were deemed by police to be “anti-government.” She was granted bail by a court two days later.

On 17th April 2026, A.M. Hasan Nasim was arrested for posting a cartoon that, media reports said, featured a government lawmaker for a joke he had made in parliament. Nasim was detained from his home in the capital following a complaint to police by a ruling party activist. A case was later filed under a section of the 2025 Cyber Security Ordinance relating to online blackmail. Nasim was granted bail on 21st April.

According to Netra News, on 22nd April 2026, police officers arrested Shakil Ahmed over a complaint that he had used artificial intelligence to create an image posted online of himself beside Zaima Rahman, the prime minister’s daughter and widely considered to be the heir-apparent. The complainant, Mostafizur Rahman, a leader of a BNP volunteer wing, said that the post had tarnished both the prime minister’s family and his own party standing.

On 25th April 2026, police arrested Nishad Islam, a 12th-grade student, over a Facebook post carrying a video of the state minister for water resources addressing parliament. While sharing the video of the exchange, Nishad’s caption read: “This is what happens when you go to Parliament after smoking weed. And this pothead is our area’s MP.” The police complaint alleged the video had been doctored using artificial intelligence. It was filed by Mohammad Abdus Salam, a local ruling-party youth-wing leader, who said the post had damaged his standing as an activist.

Association

Woman human rights defender accused of spreading false information

Front Line Defenders reported that on 6th April 2026, the Rangamati District Magistrate, acting on the directive of the Ministry of Home Affairs, issued a formal cautionary letter to women human rights defender Rani Yan Yan, accusing her of spreading false and misleading information about the government and the military.

The letter accused Rani Yan Yan of engaging in propaganda at the international level against the government and army, and of seeking to unite members of different indigenous organisations in the CHT. The letter further warned that her activities “could potentially deteriorate the situation” in the CHT and instructed her to adhere strictly to the law. However, the letter does not cite any specific statement or action by Rani Yan Yan that justifies these accusations.

Rani Yan Yan’s legal counsel has denied these accusations and requested the withdrawal of the letter, arguing that its broad dissemination has harmed her reputation and credibility, as well as undermined her work as a human rights defender.

Rani Yan Yan is a women human rights defender and indigenous rights activist based in Rangamati, Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh. She holds the position of Chakma Rani (queen) and serves as advisor to the Chakma Circle Chief. Her decade-long activism focuses on movement building, empowerment of indigenous women and youth in the CHT, and advocacy on ensuring justice, equity, and inclusiveness at local, national, and international level.

This is not the first time she has been targeted. As previously documented, Rani Yan Yan was physically assaulted by security personnel in 2018 for protecting two indigenous Marma sisters, who were allegedly raped and sexually assaulted at gunpoint by members of the security forces at their home in Bilaichari in Rangamati district, Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Lawyers arrested and prosecuted following a peaceful commemoration

Lawyers Monish Kanti Dey and Mizanur Rahman were arrested on the night of 26th March 2026 in Sunamganj. They are facing prosecution under anti-terrorism legislation, alongside several other Bangladeshi lawyers. The duo are allegedly leaders of a pro-Awami League lawyers’ association.

According to the International Observatory of Lawyers at Risk, these arrests took place after a ceremony held on the same day to mark Independence Day. Lawyers had gathered within the Sunamganj court complex to pay tribute to the martyrs and take part in a peaceful procession organised for the occasion.

Following this, a police officer filed a complaint against 27 named lawyers (including Monish Kanti Dey and Mizanur Rahman), as well as several dozen unidentified individuals, for “offences under the Anti-Terrorism Act”.

Human rights defender and former interim government advisor harassed

Human rights defender and former housing and public works adviser Adilur Rahman Khan was allegedly harassed by immigration officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) on 2nd March 2026 while travelling to Nepal as an election observer.

Adilur’s sister Taskin Fahmna said that her brother was harassed and interrogated by the immigration officials for more than an hour. HSIA executive director Raghib Samad, also Bangladesh Air Force Group Captain, said that it was a misunderstanding by junior level immigration officials and the issue was solved.

Adilur, the former Odhikar secretary, was an adviser in the Yunus-led interim government, following the ouster of the Awami League. He was also convicted on trumped up charges by the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal in 2023 in a case related to alleged violation of the now-defunct Information and Communication Technology Act 2006. The charges were scrapped in August 2024.

Failure to enact ordinances related to a human rights body and on enforced disappearances

The new BNP government has failed to enact the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Ordinance 2025 and the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Remedy Ordinance 2025, raising concerns about their commitment to human rights. Both have lapsed following the elections.

The NHRC Ordinance 2025 and the Enforced Disappearance Ordinance 2025 were adopted by the interim government. Among the critical improvements to the revitalised NHRC are its expanded mandate to investigate abuses by security forces and to monitor detention sites per the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, improved institutional independence, and greater protections for commissioners against removal. The Enforced Disappearance Ordinance 2025 empowers the NHRC to investigate disappearances. Critically, the ordinances establish enforced disappearance as a distinct crime under Bangladesh law for the first time and provide remedies for victims and their families.

All five members of Bangladesh's human rights commission resigned in April 2026 in protest over the newly elected government's failure to enact the law. That has led the NHRC to revert to operating under a 2009 law passed under the Hasina government, which was seen as largely ineffective in addressing human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, and forced disappearances.

Netra News has reported that on 21st May 2026, the government a presented fresh draft legislation on disappearances and the human rights commission at a stakeholder meeting convened by the law ministry. A review suggests it would entrench the impunity the earlier ordinances sought to dismantle.

Under Section 7, the draft restores a politically dominated, eight-member panel chaired by the Speaker of Parliament and stacked with the law and home ministers, a ruling-party MP and the cabinet secretary.

Under Section 20 of the draft National Human Rights Commission Act 2026, any allegation against a “disciplined force” - a category now broadly defined to include the military, police, RAB and, crucially, every government intelligence agency - cannot be investigated by the commission directly. Instead, it must request a report from the relevant force chief or the government. If unsatisfied, it may only send a recommendation back to the accused agency, which has six months to respond. In effect, the perpetrators of violations would investigate themselves.

Transparency International Bangladesh has criticised the draft National Human Rights Commission Act 2026, saying it could make the rights body dependent on the government and law enforcement agencies while dealing with allegations against members of the agencies.

Peaceful Assembly

Awami League members arrested over attempted flash processions

On 22nd May 2026, police arrested 32 members of the banned Awami League and its associate organisations while they were allegedly preparing to stage flash processions in the capital's Dhanmondi-32 and Agargaon areas.

Six individuals were arrested in front of the flower market near Agargaon metro rail station while 26 others were arrested from areas surrounding Dhanmondi-32 on the same day.

Confirming the matter, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Media and Public Relations Division Deputy Commissioner NM Nasiruddin said a group of activists led by a leader of the Bangladesh Chhatra League gathered in front of the Agargaon metro rail station to organise a procession.