The culture of intimidation and repression, including the widespread enforced disappearances that occurred during Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule, is believed to have largely subsided under Bangladesh’s interim government.
However, the government has arbitrarily detained thousands of people it considers political opponents. Bail for many of those held without trial is routinely being denied.
These observations were made in the 2026 annual report of the New York–based international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW), released on Wednesday.
The report said, “the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, established in 2024 following the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic Awami League government, struggled to maintain law and order, or deliver on promised human rights reforms. General elections are scheduled for February 2026.”
It stated that the interim government banned Awami League’s activities. “On 17 November, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) sentenced Hasina to death for crimes against humanity committed during the attempted suppression of 2024 protests.”
Arbitrary detentions, mass arrests, deaths in custody
The HRW report said, “Politically motivated and arbitrary detentions, which had become entrenched under the Awami League government, continued under the interim government, including the practice of adding hundreds of unnamed individuals as suspects in criminal complaints. Hundreds of Awami League leaders, members, and supporters are in custody as murder suspects, held without trial and routinely denied bail. This includes actors, lawyers, singers, and political activists.
A further set of cases was launched following a clash between Awami League members and student protesters on 8 February (2025), in a campaign called “Operation Devil Hunt,” leading to at least 8,600 arrests. Scores more may have been arrested under the draconian Special Powers Act and Anti-Terrorism Act, laws previously used to suppress dissent.”
It said, on 16 July that year, violence involving security forces and supporters of Hasina’s now banned Awami League killed five people in the town of Gopalganj, after a rally by the National Citizen Party, formed by students who had participated in the 2024 protests. Police later arbitrarily detained hundreds of alleged Awami League supporters, and filed 10 murder cases against over 8,400 mostly unnamed people. The government denied carrying out “mass arrests.”
Citing a report by the human rights group Odhikar in October, HRW said, “At least 40 people had been killed by law enforcement since the interim government took charge, including 14 who allegedly died due to torture. Almost 8,000 people had been injured in political violence, and 81 killed.”
Freedom of expression and association
In May, the government ordered a “temporary” ban on the Awami League, using newly introduced powers under an amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act. The ban includes, among other prohibitions, meetings, publications, and online speech supporting the party.
There were numerous attacks on journalists in 2025, often by non-state actors such as political party members and violent mobs. The police and courts also pursued cases under the Code of Criminal Procedure against writers accused by members of the public of “hurting religious sentiment.”
Bangladesh’s Cyber Security Act (CSA) enables impermissible restrictions on freedom of expression, including for “hurting religious sentiment,” and grants wide authority to officials to criminalise and jail political critics. In March, the interim government amended the CSA to remove nine sections that had been abused under the Awami League government. However, the amendment left in place provisions that failed to fully comply with international human rights standards.
Accountability for past violations
In February, a United Nations report found that police, border guards, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and intelligence agencies had engaged in serious human rights violations during the protests that toppled Hasina, leading to the killing of around 1,400 people.
However, the government made limited progress in holding alleged perpetrators accountable. In July, a spokesperson for the Bangladesh Police told the BBC that only 60 police officers had been arrested for their role in suppressing the 2024 protests.
The interim government decided to prosecute the most serious crimes allegedly committed during the Awami League’s rule at the ICT, a domestic court previously used to prosecute crimes under international law committed during Bangladesh’s war of independence.
In November, the ICT sentenced Hasina, as well as former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, to death following trials in absentia for crimes against humanity. A former police chief, who is in custody, testified for the prosecution and was jailed for five years.
The tribunal had been fraught with violations of fair trial standards, and while the interim government amended the law that establishes the court, introducing some improvements, it still lacks important due process protections and includes the death penalty, in violation of international human rights law. The interim government also gave the tribunal broad powers to prosecute and dismantle political organizations.
The interim government established a commission to investigate allegations of enforced disappearance and extra-judicial killings committed under the Awami League, which had received over 1,850 complaints by August 2025.
The commissioners told Human Rights Watch that they had collected significant evidence, but security force officers destroyed evidence, limited their cooperation, and are resisting efforts to hold alleged perpetrators accountable. In October, authorities filed charges against 28 people for alleged involvement in enforced disappearances.
Stalled reforms
As Hasina consolidated power during her 15-year rule, she weakened state institutions. After coming to office in 2024, the interim government established several commissions to recommend reforms including in the judiciary, electoral system, police, women’s rights, labor rights, and the constitution. A Consensus Commission chaired by Yunus was then established to complete a package of recommended reforms.
However, for reasons including lack of consensus among political stakeholders, few reforms were agreed on or implemented. On 5 August, Yunus announced the July Declaration, named for the month that the uprising against Hasina’s rule began, followed by a more detailed July Charter in October. In November, Yunus announced a referendum on constitutional reforms to be held during the election, which would commit the incoming government to implement parts of the July Charter.
The HRW annual report also noted the prevalence of violence against women, attacks on minority communities, and the renewed influx of Rohingya refugees, as well as the deterioration in their living conditions due to declining foreign assistance.