It is alarming to note the escalating tensions, use of force to police widespread protests and increasing crackdown on any dissenting voices in the run up to elections in Bangladesh, said Amnesty International on Wednesday.
The organization said this while responding to the death of a BNP activist during a road march in Laxmipur district on Tuesday. BNP activist Md Sajib, 22, was killed and hundreds of others were injured in clashes across the country as protestors took to the streets in large numbers demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s to step down to ensure fair and free national elections.
Yasasmin Kaviratne, regional campaigner for South Asia at Amnesty International, said, “It is the duty of the authorities to facilitate and protect the right to peaceful assembly and ensure that police exhaust non-violent means before resorting to force. Amnesty International strongly urges Bangladeshi authorities to ensure law enforcement officials exercise restraint. Any use of force must be strictly necessary and proportionate in pursuit of a legitimate law enforcement purpose. The investigation of the death of the activist should be conducted promptly and impartially to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable and brought to justice without resorting to the death penalty.”
“The rights to freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and protected in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Bangladesh is a state party. People should be free to protest and dissent. By muffling their voices, the government is signalling that having different political views is not tolerated within the country,” said Yasasmin Kaviratne.
