US not withdrawing sanctions against RAB: Vedant Patel

The US has dubbed false the claim that White House and the State Departments are very willing to remove the sanctions imposed on Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for the force’s reported violation of human rights and carrying out extrajudicial killings.

Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson of the US State Department said this in a regular press conference on Thursday in response to a question of a newsperson.

The newsperson asked, “After the meeting with the visiting Assistant Secretary Donald Lu, Bangladesh’s prime minister’s advisor told the reporters that White House and the State Departments are very much willing to remove the sanctions as US imposed sanction on RAB (Rapid Action Battalion), for the extreme violation of human rights and extrajudicial killing. So he said that the State Department and White House working to remove the sanctions, but …”

In response, Patel said, “Those claims are false. The US is not withdrawing sanctions against the RAB. Those claims are false.”

He also stated that sanctions were intended to change behaviour and promote accountability.