International Desk: Six US Congressmen have called on US President Joe Biden to take urgent steps to stop the human rights violations of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government and to create opportunities for free and fair parliamentary elections for the people of Bangladesh. US Congressman Bob Good published the letter written to President Biden on his official website last Friday. In addition to him, Congressmen Scott Perry, Barry Moore, Tim Burchett, Warren Davidson, and Keith Self signed the letter. All six congressmen are from the opposition Republican Party.
According to the letter, since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina assumed power in January 2009, hundreds of examples of human rights violations by her government have been documented by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, the United Nations, and other organizations and NGOs in their reports. As can be seen, Sheikh Hasina’s government has increasingly rejected the democratic system. It has tortured its citizens, committed extrajudicial killings, jailed journalists, disappeared dissidents, and assaulted or killed peaceful protesters. This phenomenon is not only limited to his political opponents; ethnic and religious minorities have also been persecuted.
Bangladesh’s Hindu population has halved since Sheikh Hasina came to power. Looting and burning of houses, destruction of temples and religious idols, murder, rape, and forced conversions have forced Hindus to flee Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s minority Christian community has also suffered persecution.
In recent months, thousands of peaceful protesters have demonstrated for fair and free elections, the people’s only hope for a change in Hasina’s government. In response, Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested and even killed peaceful protesters. Several NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, have identified the RAB as a government ‘death squad’. According to recent investigations by German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle and Sweden-based news agency Netra News, RAB’s extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances were not possible without the approval of the Interior Minister and the Prime Minister.
In the letter, the US congressmen said the US had designated the RAB as a “serious human rights violator” more than a year ago and had imposed sanctions against several law enforcement officials responsible for the killings and other atrocities. But US sanctions have not done enough to slow Sheikh Hasina’s government’s flagrant human rights abuses and democratic backsliding. Instead, they are getting closer to China and Russia to hurt America’s national interests.
We request appropriate measures, including strict personal sanctions and a ban on the participation of Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies and troops in UN peacekeeping missions, to give Bangladesh the best opportunity for free elections.
