July 31, 2024
DHAKA – Amnesty International in an open letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanded immediate lifting of curfew and restoration of full access to social media platforms.
It also called upon the PM to ensure that shoot on sight curfew orders and internet shutdowns will not be used in the future to crack down on protesters or to repress any other fundamental rights.
In the open letter, Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard expressed grave concern over the recent violent crackdowns on the quota reform protests and urged urgent and concrete action to end the violence and ensure justice and accountability for the death of “over 200 people” during the protests.
The rights organisation also demanded immediate and unconditional release of all the detainees or arrestees held solely for exercising their right to protest peacefully.
On July 28, the home minister stated that the death toll from the violence is 147, while unofficial estimates put the figure at 211, making it one of the deadliest crackdowns on protests in Bangladesh’s history, it added.
“The high death toll is a shocking indictment of the absolute intolerance shown by the Bangladeshi authorities to protest and dissent. The unlawful use of force, including lethal force, against protesters shows the authorities’ callous disregard for the right to life and an abject failure by law enforcement officials to uphold their obligations under domestic and international human rights law.”
In the last 10 days, Amnesty has monitored and documented the grave human rights violations, the open letter said.
“Our findings point to unlawful use of birdshot against student protesters, dangerous use of teargas in enclosed student spaces and unrestrained use of lethal firearms, such as AK-pattern assault rifles, by security forces.
“At midnight on Friday, July 19, police in Bangladesh were granted ‘shoot-on-sight’ orders and a nationwide curfew was imposed. The arbitrary imposition of a total shutdown of the internet across the country, a blanket ban on protests in Dhaka followed by a shoot on sight curfew across the country marked an unprecedented clampdown on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” it added.
Amnesty said such blanket restrictions violated Bangladesh’s international obligations as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Citing media reports, Amnesty said around 10,000 arrests have taken place, mostly targeting opposition leaders and activists and student leaders and protest participants.
“Additionally, over 213,000 people have been accused over the recent protest related violence in around 200 cases filed with police stations in the capital alone. Most of these accused individuals are unnamed. The tactic of not naming the accused in first information reports [FIRs] leaves room for law enforcers to arrest anyone they want, as has been previously documented by Amnesty International,” the rights organisation said.
The mass arrest and arbitrary detention of student protesters has further perpetuated a climate of fear, it added.
Amnesty said several INGOs, including Amnesty International, and UN bodies have called for the Bangladesh government to uphold its obligations under international law to respect, protect and fulfil the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, but the government of Bangladesh has repeatedly shown an unwillingness to uphold international human rights obligations.
The rights watchdog urged Hasina to instruct law enforcement agencies to exercise restraint, not to use unnecessary or excessive force against demonstrators to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
It also urged her to cooperate with the UN to conduct a thorough, effective, independent, and impartial investigation into the deaths and injuries during the crackdown. Those found responsible for the unlawful use of force must be held accountable, Amnesty said.
It also called for providing full reparations, including adequate compensation and guarantees of non-repetition, to the victims and survivors of unlawful police violence, including those who have been injured and family members of those who have been killed.
It urged the government to guarantee the protection of the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression in accordance with the constitution of Bangladesh and international human rights standards and repeal legislation which contravene these standards, including but not limited to the Cyber Security Act 2023 and Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.