report in The Daily Star, Sept 3, 2023
At least 27 political cases were filed against opposition party leaders-activists naming over a thousand people and accusing over 11 thousand unnamed individuals in last month alone.
This was stated in a monthly human rights bulletin circulated by the Human Rights Support Society yesterday.
In addition, 501 people were subjected to political arrests by law enforcement agencies, and 494 of them from the opposition, said the organisation.
At least 6 people were killed and 878 injured in 74 incidents of political violence in August and most of these casualties occurred in clashes centering around the ruling Awami League’s infighting and BNP’s peace rally, it added.
Besides, there have been incidents of obstruction concerning 14 meetings of the opposition parties by law enforcement forces, that led to clashes, pointed out the statement.
“During the clashes, 435 people were injured and 48 people were arrested,” it added.
“A review of the human rights situation in the month of August 2023 shows that, obstruction of peaceful assembly, cases of disappearance by security forces, political arrests, obstruction of funeral prayers, unlawful behavior by members of security forces, attacks and arrests on journalists continue,” it stated.
“These findings are based on information from various media outlets in Bangladesh, as well as investigations conducted by the HRSS’s dedicated unit and input from local representatives.”
The statement also pointed out that violence against women continues unabated with as many as 85 women being raped, of whom 38 were minors.
“It is of great concern that 13 women and children were gang-raped and 2 were killed after the rape,” it said. They also logged one incident of acid violence. https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/repression-opposition-journos-continue-3409731
