By IANS
Dhaka : Amnesty International has termed the human rights situation in Bangladesh unsatisfactory and says that it sees “new patterns of manipulating due process” by the present government that is conducting an anti-corruption drive.
Secretary general of the international body, Irene Khan, has also held the government responsible for new examples of human rights violations and for not addressing the matter.
Khan, a Bangladeshi, told reporters that a “new pattern of manipulating due process has emerged in the context of dealing with cases of corruption and political abuse”.
The government of Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed, that completed one year in office on Wednesday, has held an estimated 200,000 persons on various charges of corruption with the country’s jails reportedly choked.
Amongst those being prosecuted are numerous former ministers, lawmakers as well as former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.
Zia’s two sons are in jail and the elder Tarique has complained of “inhuman treatment” and torture while being interrogated.
According to Khan, the Special Powers Act, 1974, was being used to detain politicians and businessmen charged with corruption as well as journalists and blast plotters.
The government should suspend this law and the future elected government – Bangladesh has an un-elected interim government in office now – should consider repealing it, Khan said.
The Amnesty chief presented a memorandum of recommendations to the government and political parties.
Amnesty International, one of the largest global human rights organisations, also called for the immediate release of four detained Dhaka University teachers, calling them “prisoners of conscience”, The Daily Star said Friday.
They are accused of participating in impromptu protests in the university campus in August last year, triggered by soldiers beating up students at a football match.