The annual human rights report of the United States Department of State has said they found no significant changes in the overall rights situation in Bangladesh in comparison with recent years with regard to civil and political rights, including freedom of assembly and the electoral process.
Significant human rights issues include credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, torture, or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government.
Those also include harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, arbitrary arrest or detention, serious problems with the independence of the judiciary, and serious restrictions on freedom of聽 expression and media freedom.
The State Department released an extensive report on Monday night [Tuesday] detailing the rights situation of socio-political and rights activists, labour, and minorities in 2023. It said that there聽 were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Bangladesh during the year.
鈥楾here were numerous reports of widespread impunity for human rights abuses. In most cases, the government did not take credible steps to identify and punish officials or security force members who may have committed human rights abuses,鈥� the report read.
The report stated that the 12 parliamentary elections held on January 7 were widely reported as unfair and not free from abuses and irregularities.
During the campaign leading to the election, there were many credible reports of harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrests, and violence that made it difficult for opposition candidates and their supporters to meet, hold rallies, or campaign freely.
鈥業ntimidation, irregularities, and violence during campaigns and voting marked almost all parliamentary by-elections and local government elections during the year.鈥�
Observers considered the 2018 parliamentary elections neither free nor fair and marred by irregularities, including ballot box stuffing and intimidation by opposition polling agents and voters.
The report stated that Bangladeshi law provides the right to peaceful assembly, but the government generally does not respect this right.
鈥楶olitical affiliation was often a factor in claims of arrest and prosecution of members of opposition parties, including through spurious charges under the pretext of responding to national security threats.鈥�
It stated that the ruling Awami League-affiliated organisations, particularly its student wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League, carried out violence and intimidation around the country with impunity against nonpartisan individuals as well as opposition groups and others deemed critical of the government.
It said that arbitrary arrests occurred, often in conjunction with political demonstrations or speeches or as part of security force responses to alleged terrorist activity, and the government held persons in detention without specific charges, sometimes to collect information regarding other suspects.
The report stated that human rights activists claimed police falsely constructed cases to target opposition leaders, activists, and supporters and that the government used law enforcement agencies to crack down on political rivals.
The report noted that the former prime minister and chairperson of the main opposition political party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Khaleda Zia, remained confined to her home.
鈥楽he was barred from receiving needed medical treatment abroad but was being treated in a Bangladeshi hospital.鈥�
In 2018, she was sentenced to 10 years鈥� imprisonment on corruption and embezzlement charges first filed in 2008. Khaleda was transferred from prison to a hospital in 2019 and released to 鈥榟ouse arrest鈥� in 2020.
鈥業nternational and domestic legal experts noted the lack of evidence to support the conviction and suggested a political ploy to remove the leader of the opposition from the electoral process, even as multiple corruption charges against prime minister Hasina were dropped by prosecutors.鈥�
Human rights organisations allege that the police, the National Security Intelligence, and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence employed informers to conduct surveillance and report on citizens perceived to be critical of the government.
The government restricted and disrupted access to the internet and censored online content in numerous incidents.
Speaking at a press conference at BNP鈥檚 Naya Paltan central office, Bangladesh Nationalist Party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said on Tuesday that the 2023 Human Rights Report had exposed the 鈥榠njustice and brutality鈥� of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh.
Rizvi added that the US report objectively depicted the deteriorating human rights situation in Bangladesh, including the arrest of opposition leaders and obstructions to their peaceful gatherings.
He said that a certain truth regarding the human rights condition in Bangladesh had come out in the report by highlighting the visible incidents of injustice and cruelty.
No senior government ministers were available for comments on the report, despite multiple approaches.
