Bangladesh authorities should prioritise implementing a transparent and independent justice mechanism and immediately release all political prisoners, including those held in incommunicado detention, Human Rights Watch stated on Wednesday.
The international rights organisation issued the call following a political changeover in Bangladesh amid massive street protests led by students.
“Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned on 5 August 2024 and fled the country after weeks of student protests. An estimated 300 people have been killed, thousands injured, and more than 10,000 arrested,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a press statement.

The army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, said, “I promise you all, we will bring justice,” while announcing the
prime minister’s resignation and confirming that an interim government would be formed, according to the HRW statement.
“Sheikh Hasina’s resignation after nearly 15 years of increasing authoritarianism brings new hope for accountability and democratic reform to Bangladesh,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.
“The interim government should seize this opportunity to reorient the country towards the rule of law, with independent institutions to assure justice for the victims.”
The authorities should offer the families of those forcibly disappeared during the AL regime some relief by releasing all those currently held in incommunicado detention – a situation of detention in which an individual is denied access to family members, an attorney, or an independent physician, independently investigating every case where victims’ whereabouts remain unknown, and holding those responsible to account, HRW said.

It added that enforced disappearances skyrocketed under Sheikh Hasina’s rule and became a hallmark of her repression.
In her first year in office in 2009, there were three reported enforced disappearances. By the next election in 2014, there had been 131. According to Bangladeshi human rights groups, over 600 people have been forcibly disappeared by security forces since Sheikh Hasina took office.
 “The former prime minister’s rule was characterised by a culture of impunity alongside grave security force abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances. Those who dared to speak out risked their lives. Sheikh Hasina’s government further stifled free expression through a series of vague and overly broad laws used to harass and indefinitely detain activists, journalists, and others critical of the government,” reads the HRW press statement.