CIVICUS speaks with Zaman Ashraf about the current pre-election crackdown in Bangladesh.
Zaman is a Bangladeshi human rights defender who advocates for the rights of survivors of torture and victims of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, and seeks stronger legal protections for human rights in compliance with international law. He currently lives in exile in Hong Kong, since human rights activism has become increasingly risky in Bangladesh.
What is the situation for civil society in Bangladesh?
Bangladeshi civil society in under a lot of pressure. This has been ongoing for a long time, but repression has become more intense in the run-up to the January 2024 election. Anyone opposing the government, demanding a free, fair, credible and participatory election, criticising human rights abuses and demanding justice and accountability – whether they be victims’ families, human rights organisations, journalists or online activists – faces various forms of government repression.
Journalists and civil society groups have been blocked from receiving funds, which is why most of them don’t speak out publicly. People perceived as a potential threat are also being removed from organisations and leadership roles.
Recently, on 14 September, two prominent human rights defenders, ASM Nasiruddin Elan and Adilur Rahman Khan, were imprisoned for documenting human rights violations more than 10 years ago. The sentence was handed to them with the aim of silencing the rest of civil society. This is how the government punishes anyone willing to speak out against its abuses. The message is that anyone cooperating with human rights defenders, documenting abuses or raising their voices against the government will face the same fate.
A month later, Elan and Khan were released on bail. But I don’t think of this as indicative of a positive trend of diminishing repression. They had not committed any crime on the first place. When the original act of prosecuting them is unlawful and unjustifiable, then the bail itself cannot be a good sign of anything. The entire case against them was illegal – the judicial and administrative harassment, the surveillance, the blocking of their bank accounts and obstruction of their work. And they weren’t the only ones harassed – so were their families and many other human rights activists, including international human rights activists and diplomats. They all faced harassment, threats and intimidation in various forms. This is all part of the process of silencing independent voices and criminalising human rights work and organisations.
How is the government restricting the political opposition in the run-up to the election?
A recent New York Times report on Bangladesh stated that at least half of the five million supporters of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, have trumped-up criminal cases against them. Most have been accused of committing various forms of violence, perpetrating arson attacks or preventing law enforcement agencies from performing their duties. Some have been accused of terrorism under the Anti-Terrorism Law, and some cases are under the Special Powers Act. The most recent fall under the Digital Security Act.
This data refers to only one political party, but a similar situation is found with other parties that have been vocal in their opposition to the government’s policies and actions, including Jamaat-e-Islami and newly founded parties such as Gana Adhikar Parishad and their student wings. All have experienced large numbers of arbitrary arrests and detentions.
The government maintains such a hardline approach that nobody in the judiciary dares to grant detained people bail. In practice, this means that the government is banishing the opposition in the run-up to the election.
How could accountability for these rights violations be achieved?
Perpetrators of human rights violations are of at least two kinds: there are those who give commands and unleash gross human rights violations such as enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, torture and denial of access to justice, and those who commit the violations. In Bangladesh, it has been clear that commands have come from the prime minister herself.
Given the current balance of power, accountability is impossible to achieve domestically. There is no chance for either legislative or judicial accountability. Legislative accountability would require a functional parliament and a real opposition. Judicial accountability would require courts and judges that apply principles fairly, uphold everybody’s equality before the law and respect due process.
In Bangladesh, between the current government’s beginnings in January 2009 and September 2023, 675 people are documented to have disappeared. The number of unconfirmed cases is much higher. To my knowledge, at least, a dozen people have approached the High Court with habeas corpus petitions. These are writ cases filed when people are allegedly abducted and their whereabouts remain unknown. I personally supported a few cases by connecting them with lawyers and other resources. There isn’t a single case over the past 15 years in which a victim has been afforded justice. Accountability via the judiciary is simply impossible. Victims are not getting justice. Access to justice is systematically denied in Bangladesh as far as cases of gross human rights violations are concerned.
What can you do when you have exhausted all your domestic options for achieving justice? The only option left is to seek international justice. For that purpose, there is the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. Either way, it would be a time-consuming process and a broad consensus and lots of resources from the international community would be needed to make it happen.
How are you able to continue working for democracy and human rights in Bangladesh from exile?
When you continue working in exile, you sacrifice a lot as a person and as a family. There have been many cases of activists who’ve had members of their extended family arbitrarily detained. They’ve been harassed and thrown in jail. For example, a mother of an exiled journalist receives regular visits by security forces at midnight or in early morning, inquiring about her son’s journalistic activities. The family has no part in the person’s professional work, yet they are harassed because of it. My family shouldn’t be punished even if I have committed a crime. But the families of activists are punished although they haven’t even committed a crime. Activists pay a high price to continue their work.
In my case, it has not been easy. I haven’t been able to go back to Bangladesh in more than a decade. While in exile, you lose family members – sometimes permanently. The only thing that keeps you going is the hope of seeing changes finally happen. People need democracy, justice and accountability.
But I’m not alone. Many collective efforts have been undertaken, including by international organisations. There is very little one person can do individually. Only our collective efforts will be able to bring the changes to the institutions we need. Once that happens, the sacrifices will have been worth it.
What further international support does Bangladeshi civil society need?
Bangladeshi civil society organisations need support to continue their principles-based works. There should be the right to operate without fear of repression from state and non-state sources, but the government has systematically disregarded international calls to end reprisals against civil society activists and the dissidents.
Along with civil society groups that fulfil civil society’s watchdog roles, there is another kind of civil society in Bangladesh that is aligned with the government and doesn’t face any of the problems independent civil society faces. They have no problem in receiving domestic or foreign funding or implementing their activities.
There is no fair play as far as the principles are concerned: either you face corruption and repression or you become part of it. Either you fight for democracy or you become a cog in the authoritarian system. The international community should support genuine civil society in Bangladesh, those that are doing the right thing to promote democracy, justice-based rule of law and accountability.
Civic space in Bangladesh is rated ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.
Follow @ZamanAshraf on Twitter.