On June 6, 2022, the administration of Sheikh Hasina canceled the license of Odhikar, a leading NGO fighting for human rights in Bangladesh. It is another abominable manifestation of fascism of the government, one which is termed illegal because of its fraudulent hold on power since January of 2009.
US Sanctions
The reports by Odhikar and other rights agencies, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Country Reports on Bangladesh convinced the United States in December 2021 to impose sanctions on the draconian Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and some its top former and current officials for committing thousands of serious human rights violations that included extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and illegal detentions in Bangladesh.
Hit by the sanctions, the authoritarian regime retaliated by denying Odhikar’s operation. In the order, the Prime Minister’s Office cited that the organization published “misleading information about various extrajudicial killings, including alleged disappearances and murders…which had seriously tarnished the image of the state.” The reality was that the Odhikar reported the truth and touched only the tip of an iceberg.
Odhikar was established in 1994 by a few human rights activists, lawyers and academics. It has been fighting for the protection of civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights of Bangladeshi people. It has worked closely with the United Nations and other regional and international rights organizations and recorded thousands of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances perpetrated by the elite and immunized RAB and police.
In 2013, Odhikar’s Secretary Adilur Rahman and Director Nasiruddin Elan were arrested for reporting the death of dozens of Hefazat-e-Islam (an Islamic advocacy group of teachers and students) members by security forces. Government forces brutally attacked Hefazat’s peaceful gathering at central Dhaka’s Sapla Chattar on May 5-6, 2013. They were released on court orders after suffering months in jail. In addition, Odhika faced numerous reprisals by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and routinely subjected to government-sponsored smear campaigns in the media.
In 2014, Odhikar applied for a 10-year license but was kept on hold and the organization operated in limbo. The June 6 order came when it sought a court decision.
“Odhikar has been facing persecution for years and the arbitrary cancellation of its registration is the latest attempt to silence it” said Adilur Rahman Khan. Rights activists Nur Khan condemned the decision, calling it “a reflection of the government’s autocratic policy.” Saad Hammadi of Amnesty International put it in correct perspective when he said, “It is absurd that the Bangladeshi authorities withheld the registration of the human rights group for eight years and then canceled it because of the global ire they faced for a poor human rights record.”
The US based CHRD Bangladesh took up the issue with Bangladesh and US authorities to immediately grant operations of Odhikar so that the rights agency could resume its humanitarian services to the people of Bangladesh.
Persecution of Dissidents
This is another instance where the fascist regime retaliated when an individual or agency tried to tell the truth and expose the regime’s wrongdoings. The Draconian Digital Security Act (DSA) was made to prevent anyone from criticizing the government. Even a parody poem or statement against the Prime Minister or her family members fetched jail terms. Former minister Mahmudur Rahman, editor of the Amardesh, suffered torture and jail term for exposing corruption of the government that included Hasina’s family members. Amardesh was closed and Rahman fled the country for fear of his life. Chief Justice S K Sinha refused to succumb to government coercion to make legal provisions to suit the regime, even though the justice was previously party to half a dozen “judicial murders” in the name of “crime” during the liberation war in 1971. Sinha was unconstitutionally kicked out. He now lives life in exile and is wanted in 11 corruption charges that Sinha denies. Media personalities like Dr. Kanak Sarwar, Ilias Hossain, Nayeb Ali, Munir Hussain, Nagorik’s Nazmus Sakib, Tito Rahman and hundred others fled the country for fear of their lives. Most of them live abroad facing dozens of fake charges lodged against each of them back home. When the fascists could not reach their targets, they took their revenge on their relatives in Bangladesh. Sister of Dr. Kanak Sarwar, Ms. Nusrat Raka is one such example. The housewife suffered in custody, away from her infant children, for months. Those who live in Bangladesh can only experience and visualize the difficult and suffocating conditions the common people are passing through their days under the autocratic regime since January 2009.
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Write is a democracy and human rights activist. He authored four books so far, in addition to editing and jointly publishing about half a dozen books on Bangladesh.