HRW alleges intimidating opposition, calls EC partisan
New York-based Human Rights Watch has said a crackdown on the opposition is creating an atmosphere of fear ahead of the 30 December general elections in Bangladesh.
The rights group, in a statement on Thursday, blamed the security forces for taking arbitrary actions against the opposition and the election commission for alleged bias towards the ruling party.
"Bangladesh security forces have been arresting and intimidating opposition figures and threatening freedom of expression in advance of national elections on 30 December 2018," the HRW said.
Against this backdrop, it called upon the United Nations, European Union, the United States, India, China, and other international actors to press the government "to create conditions conducive to a free and fair vote and to prevent campaign violence".
The HRW said its research from October to early December found repeated instances of arbitrary security force arrest and detention of protesters and political opposition figures, and acts of violence and intimidation by members of the ruling party’s student and youth wings.
"The crackdown, and the broad and vaguely worded laws that facilitate it, are contributing to an environment of fear," the rights organisation said adding that institutions including the election commission do not appear to be fully prepared to independently and fairly resolve disputes around campaigns and elections, such as on registration, candidacies, and results.
“The Awami League government has been systematically cracking down on independent and opposition voices to ensure that the ruling party faces no obstacles to total political control,” HRW Asia director Brad Adams said.
“Members and supporters of the main opposition parties have been arrested, killed, even disappeared, creating an atmosphere of fear and repression that is not consistent with credible elections.”
The HRW insisted that the Bangladesh authorities should end the crackdown on the political opposition and on free expression ahead of the national elections to ensure Bangladeshis their internationally protected right to choose their government.
According to the HRW, serious problems with the electoral process include surveillance, intimidation, detention, and politically motivated prosecution of key opposition members including party polling agents.
Other major concerns include a crackdown on independent media and repressive laws restricting speech, association, and assembly, the rights group pointed out.
Referring to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the HRW said the authorities have brought more than 300,000 politically motivated criminal cases against its party members and supporters and thousands have been arrested since September.
Supporters of the joint opposition group Jatiya Oikya Front (National United Front) have been targeted, it said.
It added, allegations against opposition leaders appear arbitrary as BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is facing 46 cases while BNP candidate Saiful Alam Nirob, who is running against the home minister, is facing 267 cases.
While chief election commissioner KM Nurul Huda said he wanted to ensure “everyone follows the electoral code of conduct,” opposition parties accuse the commission of backing the ruling party.
For instance, the HRW cited, while only three ruling Awami League candidates were disqualified, 141 from the BNP were rejected.
Anticipating that there might be arbitrary disqualifications, the BNP nominated multiple candidates in most constituencies.
With candidates starting to campaign, scores of people have already been injured during political rallies in clashes between rival party supporters, according to the statement.
The HRW insisted that all party leaders should call upon their supporters to refrain from violence and the government should order security forces to use proportionate measures to prevent the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to play an impartial role, and to promptly investigate all credible complaints of violations.
Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bangladesh is a party, states, “Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity … to vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors.”
“Governments concerned for Bangladesh’s future should denounce abuses leading up to the elections, which will deny voters their rights,” Adams said.
“The Awami League, which came into office unchallenged five years ago, has since made a mockery of democratic rights, and now donors should make every effort to restore human rights protections.”
After boycotting the previous national elections of 2014, the main opposition parties of Bangladesh have said that they will participate in the 30 December elections, even though the government rejected their demand for a neutral authority to conduct elections, as in 2014.
However, the HRW said, as Bangladesh waits to vote, repressive measures including widespread surveillance and a crackdown on speech have contributed to a widely described climate of fear, extending from prominent people to ordinary citizens.
"This and other actions by the ruling Awami League government have created conditions that will undermine the credibility of the elections," it added.
The HRW mentioned that in many cases, the charges against the opposition appear to be groundless. In fact, numerous cases have come to light in which accused people are either dead or were abroad or hospitalised at the time of the alleged offense, it pointed out.
Following reports of charges of “planning subversive activities” against people who are dead, abroad, or paralysed, the inspector general of police, Mohammad Javed Patwary, ordered unit commanders to investigate how these mistakes had been made, the rights group pointed out.
A number of opposition candidates have been attacked in recent days. The HRW cited a number of allegations including attacks on the motorcade of BNP secretary general Fakhrul Islam on 11 December.
"Reports of campaign violence, mainly targeting opposition candidates and their supporters, are rapidly multiplying. In many cases the police reportedly denied any knowledge of the incidents," read the HRW statement.
It further said several of those arrested during the recent crackdown have said that they were physically abused in custody.
In four of the six cases Human Rights Watch investigated, detainees said that they were beaten up after they had been taken to court and then sent back to police custody instead of jail.
The HRW also reported pre-election crackdown accompanied by suppression of dissent and criticism. Earlier arrest of photographer Shahidul Alam was mentioned in this context.
“In terms of media space and civil society space, I don’t think we’ve ever had such a bad situation. Even under previous military regimes people had the right to speak up,” it quoted a leading member of civil society as saying.
It said journalists are under pressure to self-censor or risk arrest, charged under laws ranging from criminal defamation to sedition.
A newspaper editor was quoted to have told Human Rights Watch that he currently publishes only “10 to 20 per cent” of the news at his disposal. “You have a culture of fear, an environment of fear,” he said.
Another newspaper editor, according to HRW, estimated that about 50 per cent of content is self-censored.
On 9 October, the government announced that it had formed a nine-member monitoring cell to detect “rumours” on the social media. "This cell joins a proliferating number of units and agencies seeking to censor the internet, monitor online communications, and detain users accused of “spreading rumors” or “anti-state activity,” the HRW said.
Both the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and the home ministry’s National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre are seeking bids to set up so-called deep packet inspection facilities capable of surveillance and blocking internet activity in the country, according to the HRW.
On 10 December, after 58 news websites were shut down for several hours, the information minister Hasanul Haq Inu called it a “trial run.” “Similar shutdowns will continue against news portals that publish and circulate fake and baseless news reports,” he reportedly warned.