A policeman raises a baton towards an activist of an Islamist party around the location of the national mosque in Dhaka, October 12, 2012.
Human rights in Bangladesh worsened in 2013 as the government cracked down on members of civil society, the media and the political opposition, Human Rights Watch said in its annual World Report, but a government minister said this was not true and the report was biased.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government often took violent and illegal action against protesters, and failed to initiate any investigations into credible allegations of unlawful deaths at the hands of its security forces, said the report, released on Tuesday.
“This year (2013) has been tragic for Bangladesh, with political unrest leading to unnecessary deaths of protesters, security personnel, and bystanders,” said Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia Director.
“The government has failed to stem the cycle of violence by ordering investigations into violations by security forces, and instead has become increasingly intolerant of dissent, going to extreme extents to suppress opposition and criticism.”
“This is not true and the report is biased,” Law Minister Anisul Haq told Thomson Reuters Foundation on Wednesday, without going into detail. The government will give a formal reaction to the report next week, he added.
DEADLY PROTESTS, NO ACCOUNTABILITY
More than 200 people were killed in violent street protests in Bangladesh which broke out in February and continued throughout 2013.
The protests began after the Awami League government decided to charge people with war crimes and other abuses during Bangladesh’s liberation war in 1971 and put them on trial. Many of the defendants belong to the hardline Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, part of the main opposition alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
The execution in December of Abdul Qader Mollah, a senior member of Jamaat-e-Islami, for war crimes committed in 1971, led to further protests and violence.
Disagreement between the government and opposition led the BNP to boycott elections on January 5, 2014, on the ground that they would not be free and fair.
“Bangladeshi security forces frequently used excessive force in responding to street protests, killing at least 150 protesters and injuring at least 2,000 between February and October 2013,” the HRW report said.
“While large numbers of protesters were arrested, Bangladeshi authorities made no meaningful efforts to hold members of the security forces accountable.”
The report said the authorities had also cracked down on other opponents of the government. In August, prominent human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan was detained on politically motivated charges, HRW said, adding that ‘atheist’ bloggers and a newspaper editor had also been arrested.
Also in August, Bangladeshi prosecutors charged HRW with contempt of court after the New York-based rights group criticised the conviction of a top Islamist politician on war crimes charges.
PREVENTABLE FACTORY DEATHS
Among other issues, HRW pointed to the recent string of factory accidents – including one in a garment factory in April which led to the deaths of more than 1,100 people – and said that measures to protect labour rights fell far short of international standards.
The accidents in garment factories in Bangladesh has put the government, industrialists and the global brands that use the factories under pressure to reform an industry that employs four million people and generates 80 percent of export earnings.
The Bangladeshi parliament enacted changes to the Labour Act in July, and amendments lifted some restrictions on employees joining a trade union, but failed to protect the right to freedom of association effectively, HRW said.
Regular inspections of factories, to check that health and safety standards were being met, were due to start in September, but have remained stalled by administrative delays, HRW added.
“This government came to power promising democracy and a return to the rule of law, but instead has become increasingly authoritarian and intolerant,” Adams said.
“The crackdown throughout this year (2013) on any form of dissent has been shocking, and has exacerbated the country’s human rights crisis.”
Source: Reuters
GROSS VIOLATION OF BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS IN BANGLADESHI PRISONS
WHAT’S HAPPENING INSIDE HASINA’S DUNGEONS?
Field report: Khondoker Rafqul Islam, & Abdul Halim Patwary reporting from Dhaka after visiting 7 jails in various part of the country. Dkaka:24.01.2013
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENING INSIDE VINDICTIVE HASINA’S DUNGEON WHERE THE INMATES NUMBER IS OVER SIX TIMES THEIR CAPACITY: SMELL OF TOILET EVERY WHERE. TO GET FOOD SUPPLIED FROM HOME INMATES HAVE TO PAY REGULARLY. THIS LUCRATIVE TRADE IS ALMOST A NORM THAT NOBODY QUESTION FEARING PUNISHMENT & IT IS KNOWN TO MOST PEOPLE. PRISON’S OWN FOOD IS MOSTLY NOT EATABLE. MOST OF THE DUNGEONS ARE NOT AT ALL SUITABLE FOR HUMAN HABITATION, EVEN FOR ANIMAL SAID ONE INMATE. WHAT WONDER, NEARLY 121,000 people are in hiding. About the number of the prisoner whose number & list lengthening every day Un-named police officer told Al-Hilal, “I CANNOT TELL YOU EXACT NUMBER BUT I RECKON AROUND 250,000 and more “WANTED” peoples names are being added to the list almost in daily basis.? YOU CAN SEE VILLAGE AFTER VILLAGE IS EMPTY OF ANY ADULT MALE; THEY ALL HAVE GONE TO HIDING”. When asked who prepared the list of “WANTED” SUSPECTS WHO ARE TO BE ARRESTS?” Is it the top brasses of police or the Detective Branch? Police officer replied, “NEITHER, THE LIST COMES FROM HOME OFFICE, SOMETIMES SUPPLEMENTARY LIST COMES FROM LAW MINISTRY AND IN FEW OCCASION WE HAD LIST COMING FROM THE PRIME MINISTERS OFFICE”. But you cannot tell me the number of the inmates you holding? “NO, I DOUBT IF ANYONE WOULD BE ABLE TO TELL YOU THE REAL NUMBER. NOBODY KNOWS”
Khondoker Rafqul Islam, & Abdul Halim Patwary reporting from Dhaka after visiting 7 jails in various part of the country.
Ayub Ali Ansary adds from Chittagong, “HIGHLY POLITICIZED AND THOROUGHLY CORRUPT POLICE, and MOSTLY RECRUITED FROM HER OWN HOME VILLAGE ARE LET LOOSE ON HER ISLAMIC OPPONENTS. ANY PERSON WEARING A CAP, BEARD AND LONG ISLAMIC DRESS IS AN “ISLAMIC TERRORIST” AND AS SUCH AN ANTI STATE ELEMENT. “HE SHOULD BE FIRED UPON FIRST BEFORE HE KILLS YOU” IS THE STANDING INSTRUCTION STILL IN USE! (ISSUED BY THE EX HOME MINISTER). IT MEANS, ASK NO QUESTION JUST SHOOT ON SIGHT. THIS IS AN UNPRECEDENTED MISUSE OF STATE-POWER AND STATE MACHINERIES & INSTITUTIONS, PARTICULARLY THE JUDICIARY, POLICE & EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.THESE ARE BEING USED AS POLITICAL TOOLS FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF HOLDING ON TO POWER naming, branding and bracketing all the political opponents, critics as “SEDITIOUS”. Even the foreign critics of these kind of abuse of power, mass arrrest, abduction, closing the office of the opposition, putting almost all the top opposition politicians in jail, abusing and insulting them and killing people indiscriminately are being accused of “ INTERFERING IN BANGLADESH’S INTERNAL MATTER”!
This is the exact state of affairs now prevailing in Bangladesh under arrogant, Hasina’s illegal rule that has no legitimacy. Home office knows not how many inmates are in jail. Country’s colonial British built 68 jails supposed to accommodate 72,000 prisoners are holding inmates 5-6 times their capacity. Most of the jails are smelly. Smell of human waste is overwhelming and suffocating in some areas. One officer on condition of anonymity told Al-Hilal, “SIR, WE ARE DOING OUR BEST TO KEEP THE TOILETS CLEAN AND MAINTAIN THE HYGIENIC STANDARD AS BEST AS WE CAN WE THE MEAGRE RESOURCES WE HAVE BEEN PROVIDED WITH. YOU HAVE SEEN ONE WING OF MY JAIL BUT IF YOU SEE THE OTHER SIDE OPPOSITE AND NOT EXPOSED YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO BREATH BECAUSE THE SMELL IS SO INTENSE”. When asked if he thought it was a health hazard. His reply was “OBVIOUSLY, BUT SOME PEOPLE MIGHT SHOW ITS ADVERSE EFFECT LATER ON, LONG AFTER THEIR RELEASE AND NOT INSTANTLY”. I will tell you sir, never mind human beings, even a civilised country would not allow its animals to live in such condition. I am not a politician but I can tell you that I am long enough in this jail but during this time not even a window has been changed, no new toilet fixed due of “SHORTAGE OF FUND” we are told…. My predecessor told me like all other state institutions jail too is the victim of TENDER SNATCHING Business. Most probably some money was sanctioned to carry out the repair, reconstruction, expansion but work was not carried out and the money was pocketed. It has been the norm during the last 5 years of this TENDER-SNATCHING GOVERNMENT. Tender snatching, tender looting is the norm and the culprits are the ruling party’s student & Youth cadres. They are so powerful nobody could control those Frankenstein Monsters. Hasina is just scared and thus unable stop them and she has been watching helplessly as they WERE shooting each other while fighting to grab the tenders. They would not hesitate for a moment to shoot her if she wants to stop their parallel government from functioning. This is the reality behind the facade of her “ECONOMIC PROGRESS”!!