LONDON based rights campaigner Amnesty International said that human rights situation in Bangladesh had no significant change last year except hosting Rohingya people. The ‘Human Rights in the Asia Pacific: Review of 2019’, a flagship report published on Thursday, stated that the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly were increasingly restricted through draconian laws that actively shrunk the space for dissents. People in Bangladesh continued to be harassed and arrested for speaking out loudly. Under the repressive Digital Security Act, at least 20 people were arrested and nearly 400 indictments were filed in 2019. In February, five journalists were sued, including one who was detained and later released by the police for reporting on police corruption. The study said that fear of reprisals and intimidation from intelligence forced journalists to self-censor. The political opposition was not allowed to organise meetings and political rallies in a violation of their rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly.
The global human rights defender said that BUET student Abrar murder by ruling party men showed the shrunk space of freedom of expression and the ruling party’s attitude to dissent opinion. The rights campaigner asked the authorities to respect and protect people’s right to express and organise themselves without fear and repression. Meanwhile, more than 388 people were killed by the security forces in alleged extrajudicial executions last year. In some cases, victims were forcibly disappeared for months before they were killed in what the authorities claimed were “gunfights.” In addition, at least 13 people were forcibly disappeared last year. There were at least 4,732 reported incidents of violence against women and girls, including 2,448 rapes and 400 attempted rapes.
Though the Constitution pleaded for upholding rights for citizens, it is alleged that the government political wings and agencies were the top rights violators in the name of protecting government’s interests.
