The US based watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Bangladesh had tumbled backward on human rights in 2013 in its World Report 2014 .
Released yesterday, the report accused the government of engaging in a harsh crackdown on members of civil society, the media, and the political opposition.
The report said, “The authorities arbitrarily arrested members of the main opposition party, the BNP.”
It went on to criticise violent street protests which broke out in Bangladesh in February and continued throughout the year, killing nearly 200 and injuring thousands.
“The earlier protests were linked to decisions by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), a domestic court set up to put on trial those responsible for war crimes and other abuses during Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971,” said the report.
Street violence continued after the main opposition alliance decided to boycott elections scheduled for January 5. While the political parties failed to restrain their supporters from engaging in violence, state forces occasionally used excessive force to restore law and order, said the report.
It said convicted war criminal and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Abdul Quader Molla’s execution led to further protests and violence at the end of the year.
The authorities often employed violent and illegal measures against protesters and failed to initiate any investigations into credible allegations of unlawful deaths at the hands of its security forces, the report said.