Bangladesh: UN report highlights repression by former government as journalists targeted and draft cybersecurity ordinance raises concerns

Bangladesh’s civic space was upgraded by the CIVICUS Monitor to ‘repressed’ from ‘closed’ in December 2024, due to steps taken by the interim government to address civic space concerns following mass protests that led to the fall of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government in August 2024. This includes the release of protesters and human rights defenders, signing the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances, and forming a commission of inquiry on all cases of enforced disappearances. Despite this, there are ongoing concerns on the need to protect journalists, repeal restrictive laws, ensure an enabling environment for civil society and pursue accountability for past crimes.

In November 2024, the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser, Dr Asif Nazrul, said the government had amended the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 and approved the draft of 'International Crimes (Tribunals) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2024' to hold fair trials. According to HRW it still lacks some due process protections, and includes the death penalty, in violation of international human rights law.

According to Human Rights Watch in January 2025, activists have raised concerns that security forces have continued to carry out abuses, including arbitrary arrests of opposition supporters and journalists and denying them due process and proper access to legal counsel. Security forces have also failed to release those unlawfully detained or provide answers to their families about what happened to them.

In January 2025, distinguished Professor Ali Riaz, who is currently serving as head of the Constitution Reform Commission in Bangladesh, submitted the commission’s report to the interim government. The Commission recommended sweeping changes to the constitution, expanding fundamental rights to include food, clothing, shelter, education, internet, and the vote. The commission also recommended an interim government to conduct elections, a bicameral parliament, and two-term limits for the president and prime minister.

In recent months, a UN report found brutal and systematic repression around the 2024 student protests, including possible crimes against humanity. The press accreditation of 167 journalists was revoked, charges brought against journalists perceived to be affiliated with the previous government, and media outlets attacked. There are concerns about the draft Cyber Protection Ordinance and the arrest and detention of a Hindu monk for sedition. An enforced disappearances inquiry published its provisional report that found ex-premier Sheikh Hasina's direct involvement in alleged incidents of enforced disappearance, an indigenous land rights defender was arbitrarily detained and there have been reprisals against the Awami League supporters.

Peaceful Assembly

UN report finds brutal and systematic repression around 2024 student protests

A report by the UN Human Rights Office has found that Bangladesh’s former government and security and intelligence services, alongside violent elements associated with the Awami League party, systematically engaged in a range of serious human rights violations during the 2024 student-led protests.

It also found an official policy to attack and violently repress anti-government protesters and sympathisers, raising concerns as to crimes against humanity requiring urgent further criminal investigation.

The report estimates that as many as 1,400 people may have been killed between 15th July and 5th August 2024, and thousands were injured, the vast majority of whom were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces. Of these, the report indicates that as many as 12-13 percent of those killed were children.

The report found patterns of security forces deliberately and impermissibly killing or maiming protesters, including incidents where people were shot at point-blank range. The report also documents cases in which security forces denied or obstructed critical medical care for injured protesters, interrogated patients and collected their fingerprints in hospitals, intimidated medical personnel and seized hospital CCTV footage without due process, in an apparent effort to identify protesters and to conceal evidence of the extent of violence by State forces.

The protests were triggered by the High Court’s decision to reinstate a quota system in public service jobs but were rooted in much broader grievances arising from destructive and corrupt politics and governance that had entrenched economic inequalities. To remain in power, the former government tried systematically to suppress these protests with increasingly violent means.

Expression

Press accreditation of 167 journalists revoked

In November 2024, it was reported that the interim government had cancelled press accreditations for 167 journalists. The move has added to concerns over press freedom and harassment of journalists. No reason was given in the notices by the department, except that the decision was made under provisions of a 2022 policy.

The Editors’ Council said the cancellation of accreditation by the interim government headed by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus risks “fostering a climate of exerting control, including censorship, over the media”.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said in a statement that the decision to strip accreditation “encourages self-censorship” and was “incomprehensible” as it came just a week after the Information Ministry established a committee to monitor cases of harassment against journalists. Transparency International Bangladesh called the revocation of accreditation cards, as well as other reports of threats and attacks against the press, an indicator of “an anti-people authoritarian regime.”

Charges brought against journalists

According to Reporters Without Borders, extremely grave but baseless accusations of killing protesters have been brought against nearly 140 journalists. Twenty-five have been charged with “crimes against humanity.” Many of them have gone into hiding because they fear being arrested and jailed.

Antoine Bernard, RSF’s Director of Advocacy and Assistance, said that: “The purge of journalists who are considered to be affiliated with the former government has reached a new level. Media professionals are bearing the brunt of the need for vengeance that permeates this terrible legal cabal, which is hurting the image of the political transition underway in Bangladesh.”

Media outlets attacked and smeared

In November 2024, protestors attacked the headquarters of the Daily Star and Prothom Alo in the capital, Dhaka, and several of their regional offices, notably in the city of Rajshahi where 200 demonstrators tried to enter the Prothom Alo office and vandalised its signboard. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the aim of these violent demonstrations, orchestrated by radicalised anti-India religious groups, was to denounce these newspapers as so-called “agents of India.”

The attackers accused The Daily Star and Prothom Alo of being funded by its neighbouring country to promote ideals that they consider contrary to Islam, such as secularism, the rights of LGBTQI+ people, and the emancipation of women. They demanded that the newspapers be closed down if they did not publicly apologise and retract their positions, which were deemed “anti-Islamic.” A smear campaign on social media further intensified the hatred against these media.

RSF condemned the unacceptable attacks and attempts of intimidation and called for an impartial, thorough investigation into the instigators and perpetrators of the recent violent attacks.

Concerns about the draft Cyber ​​Protection Ordinance

On 7th November 2024, the interim government announced it would repeal the Cyber Security Act (successor to the Digital Security Act 2018), which was used by the previous regime to curb press freedom and criminalise dissent, creating a chilling effect for freedom of expression in the country. To replace the law, a Cyber ​​Protection Ordinance (CPO) was drafted that has removed some of the restrictive provisions of the Cyber Security Act. The interim government's advisory council approved the draft ordinance on 24th December 2024.

However, concerns have been raised by civil society groups, media professionals and human rights defenders that some of the repressive provisions of the previous Act have remained that are inconsistent with Bangladesh’s international human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and could be used to stifle online expression.

Section 25 of the CPO contains provisions that make it an offence to “transmit, publish or disseminate any information with intent to insult, harass or defame” a person. These are vague and overly broad terms that pose a threat to freedom of expression and could deter legitimate comments or criticism of individuals, especially those in power.

There are also concerns about Section 26 of the CPO that will allow the prosecution and jailing of citizens who "hurt religious sentiments". This is an impermissible restriction as under relevant international standards the right to religion or belief does not include the right to be free from criticism and ridicule.

Section 8 of the CPO empowers the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to remove or block content that may undermine "national unity," "economic activity," "security," "defence," "religious values" ​​or "public order," at the request of law enforcement agencies and the director-general of the National Cyber Security Agency. There are concerns about the vague and undefined reasons that could be used to remove or block content and excessive the powers provided to the commission without any judicial oversight.

Section 35 of the CPO permits warrantless searches, seizures and arrests, requiring reports to be submitted to a tribunal, but without a defined timeline. This absence of a reporting deadline increases the risk of harassment and abuse by authorities. Section 46 of the CPO refers to the offences classified as “bailable” and “non-bailable”. For “non-bailable” offences there is no recourse for defendants awaiting trial.

Arrest and detention of Hindu monk for sedition

In another worrying indication for freedom of expression, authorities filed charges of sedition against 19 people for desecrating the national flag, and arrested Chinmoy Krishna Das in November 2025, an official of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

A court in Chittagong denied him bail. Das’s arrest came at a time when there is growing concern over attacks on Hindu minorities. In January 2025, the court again rejected bail.

Association

Enforced disappearances inquiry publishes provisional report

According to Bangladeshi human rights monitors, security forces had carried out over 600 enforced disappearances since 2009, when Sheikh Hasina first took office. While some people were later released, produced in court, or said to have died, nearly 100 people remain missing.

In December 2024, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance set up by the interim government said in a provisional report that it has found ex-premier Sheikh Hasina's direct involvement in alleged incidents of enforced disappearance. In January 2025, it reported that several children were among hundreds of people held in secret detention centres.

On 6th January 2025, the International Crimes Tribunals (ICT) issued arrest warrants against deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 11 others, including former military generals and a former police chief, for their alleged role in incidents of enforced disappearances.

On 26th February 2025, Mayer Dak, a platform of families of enforced disappearance victims, submitted formal complaints to the office of the chief prosecutor at the ICT about 100 cases of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing. The complaints allege the involvement of over 60 individuals, including members of law enforcement agencies and politicians of the ousted Awami League government.

Indigenous land rights defender arbitrarily detained

According to Front Line Defenders, on 23rd February 2025, indigenous land rights defender Ringrong Mro was arbitrarily detained in Bandarban District Jail following his arrest on 22nd February 2025, on the basis of a case filed by Lama Rubber Industries Limited in 2022, which local activists and indigenous defenders say is a strategy to criminalise work in defence of ancestral land.

Ringrong Mro is a prominent indigenous leader and human rights defender from the Mro community in Lama Upazila, Bandarban. He has been at the forefront of grassroots efforts to protect indigenous lands and the environment, particularly against illegal encroachment by corporate interests. His human rights work focuses on land grabbing by companies such as Lama Rubber Industries Limited, which has been accused by the local indigenous communities of forcibly occupying the ancestral lands of indigenous peoples.

Reprisals against the Awami League

According to Human Rights Watch in a report published in January 2025, police have returned to the abusive practices that characterised the previous government, this time targeting supporters - or perceived supporters- of the Awami League government. For instance, in the first two months since the interim government took office, over 1,000 police cases were filed against tens of thousands of people, mainly Awami League members, accusing them of murder, corruption, or other crimes. Over 400 Awami League ministers and leaders are facing investigations. In some of these cases, complainants were not even aware of who was being named as accused.

In early February 2025, police officials arrested more than 1,300 people after the government launched a crackdown on supporters backing ex-leader Sheikh Hasina.