Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Bangladesh government to allow an independent investigation into suspected extrajudicial killings of detained opposition activists by the country’s security forces in recent months.
“The Bangladeshi government should authorise an independent investigation into a recent spate of alleged extrajudicial killings by security forces,” the international human rights organisation said in a statement published on Monday. HRW said the government should publicly order law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of all those taken into custody.
“Joint forces, consisting of the Bangladesh Police, the Rapid Action Battalion and the Border Guards Bangladesh, continue to arrest opposition supporters, some of whom are accused of involvement in violent protests before and during the January 5 elections, which were boycotted by opposition parties,” the statement said.
“Security forces claim that the deaths after arrest occurred during crossfire, which Human Rights Watch has previously documented is used by the security forces as a common euphemism to describe what they claim to be shootouts, but which in reality appear to be the killing of people already in detention,” it added.
HRW called on the government to publicly order the security forces to follow the United Nations principles on the use of force by law enforcement officials, which state that security forces shall “apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms.”
