International rights group Human Rights Watch in its annual report on Thursday said that the ruling Awami League government dismissed concerns expressed by the United Nations, donors, and non-governmental organisations in 2021 over extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances.
In the Bangladesh chapter of its 752-page world report 2022, the New York-based rights group said that the authorities in Bangladesh cracked down on activists, journalists, and even children, who criticised the government or its response to the Covid19 pandemic.
‘Bangladesh authorities used the Covid-19 pandemic to send a chilling message that criticism of the ruling Awami League will be punished,’ said Brad Adams, the Asia director at HRW.
‘Yet journalists, medical workers, and activists were highlighting the barriers to healthcare that many people across Bangladesh who died from the coronavirus had faced.’
In its 32nd edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in nearly 100 countries.
In many countries, large numbers of people have recently taken to the streets, risking arrest and being shot, showing that the appeal of democracy remains strong, said the report.
The rights group observed that autocrats were finding it more difficult to manipulate elections in their favour.
Executive director Kenneth Roth challenges the conventional wisdom that autocracy is ascendant, adding that democratic leaders must do a better job of meeting national and global challenges making sure that democracy delivers on its promised dividends.
The HRW noted that in February 2021 writer Mushtaq Ahmed died in prison after being held in pre-trial detention for nine months for posting criticism on Facebook of the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In May, the authorities arrested Rozina Islam, a journalist, following her reporting on malpractices in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In September unidentified gunmen shot and killed Mohib Ullah, a Rohingya rights activist, in Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar.
In October seven refugees were murdered in an attack on an Islamic seminary in the camp, for which Bangladesh authorities had failed to provide adequate security.
In October four people died when police reportedly opened fire to contain a mob, and at least three more people died amid a spate of sectarian violence targeting Bangladesh’s Hindu minority.
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