Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said mass arrests in Bangladesh are continuing “the cycle of political repression,” despite the BNP’s pledge to restore human rights and the rule of law after coming to power.
“Instead, the new government has arbitrarily detained perceived opponents and rolled back human rights safeguards the interim government proposed,” said Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Watch’s Asia director, who oversees the organisation’s work across more than 20 countries in the region.
Pearson noted that the BNP itself faced severe repression during the Awami League government’s tenure. However, she said, since being elected in February, the BNP government has targeted people it considers opponents through arbitrary detention, with hundreds of Awami League members currently in jail, most of them without charge.
International human rights law guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of association for everyone, Pearson said.
Violations of those rights committed during the Awami League’s time in power, she added, cannot be used to justify similar violations by the BNP government.
Bangladesh’s history, Pearson said, contains numerous examples of where political repression can lead.
She described the mass arrest of participants at a small left-wing party meeting in Dhaka on September 26 as the latest example of what she called the authorities’ continuing assault on civil and political rights.
According to Pearson, police detained around 290 supporters of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal after members of the BNP’s youth wing, Jubo Dal, alleged that the gathering was a “secret” meeting of the banned Awami League, the party led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
A court subsequently remanded 27 of those arrested in custody over allegations that they had chanted “Joy Bangla” (Victory to Bengal), a slogan associated with the Awami League.
The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal was part of a 14-party alliance led by the Awami League, which governed Bangladesh from 2009 until 2024. The Awami League government was toppled following student-led protests in 2024, during which hundreds of people were killed by security forces.
HRW said police have repeatedly raided gatherings suspected of involving Awami League supporters.
On 26 September, the same day as the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal meeting in Dhaka, police in Barishal detained 12 Awami League activists who were accused of holding a “secret” meeting to “plan sabotage”. Two days later, police arrested 15 more people in Dhaka under the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Act on similar allegations.
In both incidents, those detained said they had gathered to mark Sheikh Hasina’s birthday.
HRW also pointed to the record of the Awami League government under Hasina, saying her rule was marked by widespread and serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention of political opponents.
