Human Rights Watch Urges BNP Government Not to Detain Awami League Leaders Without Trial

❐ BD Digest Desk

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The international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the BNP government in Bangladesh not to detain politicians and other individuals associated with the ousted Awami League government without trial or on trumped-up evidence.

The organization made this call in a statement released today, Monday, August 24th.

HRW said that after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government following widespread violence in August 2024, police arrested thousands of Awami League leaders and supporters. Hundreds of them have been held in prison for long periods without being charged with any specific crime.

The statement noted that some officials or political figures may have been involved in various criminal incidents during the Awami League government. However, many have been shown arrested only on charges of killing protesters without any visible evidence.

According to documents obtained from family members and lawyers of detainees, many of the detainees are very old and some suffer from serious physical illnesses. Despite this, they are being denied basic rights such as bail and necessary medical treatment.

The statement also said that since Tarique Rahman took charge of the government in February 2026, at least 10 senior Awami League leaders have died in prison or while undergoing treatment. Most of them have not been charged with any formal crime.

“Despite the change of government, hundreds of political opponents continue to be held for long periods without due process,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at HRW. “While the current government has promised reforms, its first step should be to end this long-standing culture of arbitrary and extrajudicial detention.”

The organization said that if the government’s proposed new ‘National Human Rights Commission Bill’, instead of reforming the judiciary, is passed as currently drafted, the new commission will not have sufficient scope or jurisdiction to independently investigate allegations of arbitrary arrests.

According to the statement, those detained for long periods without any specific charges include more than a hundred members of parliament from the Awami League government, former lawmakers from the Sheikh Hasina government, support workers, government officials and pro-Awami League journalists.

On the other hand, some individuals, including members of law enforcement agencies, are accused of serious crimes such as extrajudicial killings, torture, and disappearances, as well as corruption.

However, even in cases where no sufficient evidence was presented, the prosecution has opposed bail and the lower courts have consistently denied bail. In some cases, bail has been granted by the high court, but the enforcement of the bail order has been blocked by filing new cases.

Referring to the arrest of former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, the organization said that 82-year-old Khairul Haque was arrested on July 24, 2025, in a murder case. In the next three months, when he was presented in four more cases, including corruption, the lower court repeatedly denied his bail.

The organization said that Khairul Haque, who had been ill for a long time, suffered a heart attack while in prison. The High Court granted him bail, but on March 10, 2026, just before he was granted bail in the last case, the police applied to show him arrested in two more murder cases, delaying his release. Later, although he was granted bail again by the High Court, the police filed a new murder case again.

According to the family, the two locations where Khairul Haque was shown to be present were more than 10 kilometers apart, yet his presence was claimed at the same time. He was finally released on August 19 after an order from the Appellate Division, but no charges were formally filed against him during that time.

Lawyers for other detainees told Human Rights Watch that they are now discouraged from seeking bail for their clients in court because they have been repeatedly granted bail but are being rearrested by the police in new cases.

Expressing concern over the activities of the International Crimes Tribunal, the organization said that although the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh is a domestic judicial system, there is no rule to detain a person for more than one year without charge, except for ‘exceptional reasons’ written in its own rules.

However, none of the more than 160 people detained by the tribunal have been granted bail, and there is no provision for appealing to the higher court against the rejection of this order.

HRW noted that Sheikh Hasina’s former advisor, Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, 81, was arrested by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Bangladesh in October 2024. He has been in prison for the past 22 months without charge. He applied for bail in April 2026, but the tribunal rejected his application and has repeatedly postponed the trial without citing any exceptional reasons.

The organization also said that former MP Kamal Ahmed Majumder, 75, has also been detained by the tribunal for 22 months. His relatives said that while in prison, he had to have three fingers amputated due to gangrene on his feet and that he fell and broke his hip. His bail application was also rejected last July.

The organization expressed deep concern about the health and treatment of the detainees, saying that 75-year-old Shahriar Kabir suffers from multiple diseases and uses a wheelchair to move around. Rights activists have demanded his release. In addition, 71-year-old former minister RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury, who is suffering from a heart condition, has also been detained without trial for 22 months.

The organization also said that 85-year-old former Awami League MP Ramesh Chandra Sen died on February 7, 2026, while in detention after being arrested in four cases since August 2024.

Similarly, 65-year-old SM Ziaul Haque Zia, a member of the Jamalpur district Awami League, was arrested on January 6 while ill and died on April 14 without being granted bail. The families allege that the detainees were not given proper treatment and medicine.

Drawing attention to international law, HRW said that under international human rights law, pretrial detention should be an exceptional measure, not the general rule. It must be regularly reviewed by a judge, taking into account the individual circumstances of each individual’s case.

The human rights organization says that prolonged detention before trial undermines a person’s freedom of speech and the right to be proven innocent.

Finally, Elaine Pearson said, “A judicial system that pushes a person to die in prison before the trial begins or charges are filed does not comply with international legal standards. The government should ensure independent investigations into every death that occurred in prison during the Awami League era or the current era and end the culture of arbitrarily detaining people on false evidence.”