Amnesty International urges government to end crackdown, lift communications restrictions

Amnesty International has urged the government of Bangladesh and its agencies to respect the right to protest, end the violent crackdown, and immediately lift all communications restrictions.

Bangladeshi authorities have continued to use unlawful force against student protesters, amid six days of shutdown and communication restrictions, during the quota-reform protest across the country, said Amnesty International on Thursday in a statement.

The nationwide internet access was partially restored on 23 July after six days of complete shutdown amidst a volatile period marked by a crackdown on protesters, the deployment of the army, a curfew, and the issuing of shoot-on-sight orders, the human rights body said.

“The limited information coming out of the country has been an impediment to human rights monitoring. Amnesty International has responded to the evolving situation through verification and analysis of available video and photographic evidence”, it said in the statement.

Deprose Muchena, Senior Director at Amnesty International, said, “The egregious human rights records of the Bangladeshi government and the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which has been deployed to police the protests, provides little reassurance that the protesters’ rights will be protected in the absence of active international monitoring with internet and communication restrictions still partially in place.”

He called upon the Bangladeshi government to immediately lift the shoot-on-sight orders, fully restore internet access across the country, and end the use of army and paramilitary forces in the policing of protests.

“An independent and impartial investigation into all human rights violations committed by security forces, including the high death toll of protesters, must urgently be conducted and all those found responsible must be held fully accountable. Victims of unlawful police use of force, including those who have been injured and family members of those who have been killed, must also receive full reparations from the state,” Muchena added.