A commission designated by the Bangladesh government that investigates hundreds of disappearances by security forces under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned Monday that the same “culture of impunity” continues.
The Investigation Commission on Forced Disappearances is to investigate abuse during the Hasina government, whose government was accused of generalized abuses in human rights.
That includes the extrajudicial murder of hundreds of political opponents and the illegal kidnapping and the disappearance of hundreds more.
The commission was established by the interim leader, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Muhammad Yunus, 84, who faces intense political pressure when the parties are pushed by power before the expected elections at the beginning of next year.
Bangladesh has a long history of military blows and the army retains a powerful role.
“The forced disappearances in Bangladesh were not isolated acts of irregularities, but the result of a politicized institutional machinery that awaits, normalized often rewarded such crimes,” said the commission, in a section of a report published by the interim government on Monday.
“Waiting, this culture of impunity continues even after the change of the regime on August 5, 2024”.
The Commission has verified more than 250 cases of forced disappearances that cover the 15 years that the Hasina Awami League was in power.
The head of the commission, Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, said earlier this month that the responsibility was with individual officers, who were “involved in making forced disappearances”, but not with the armed forces as an institution.
Earlier this month, a joint statement of the rights groups, including International Amnesty and Rights Human Rights, asked the security forces to “cooperate completely with the commission by guaranteeing access without restrictions and continuous to all detention centers … and providing free access to records with respect to seized or detained.”
The former chief of elections of the era of Hasina arrested
Meanwhile, a Bangladesh court retired the former chief of elections on Monday for his alleged role in manipulation of the vote in favor of Hasina.
Km Nurul Huda, 77, received the order to be arrested for four days as he questioned continues, a day after a mafia, who crashed into his house and assaulted him, finally handed him over to the police.
On Sunday, the powerful Nationalist Party of Bangladesh (BNP) presented a case against Huda and other former electoral commissioners who accuses of manipulating past surveys in favor of Hasina.
Hours after the case was presented, a mafia assaulted Huda’s house in the capital, Dhaka and dragged him into the street. They put a shoe garland around their neck and hit him before delivering it to the police.
The interim government condemned the incident and urged people not to take the law in their own hands.
“Uploading to a defendant and attack him physically is illegal, contrary to the rule of law and a criminal offense,” reads the statement.
The interim leader Muhammad Yunus said the elections will be held in early April 2026.
The police put a helmet in Huda while taking him to the Court for his protection. Human rights organizations also condemned the attack on Huda.
“It was a complete violation of … the rule of law,” said Abu Ahmed Faijul Kabir of the Rights Group Ain or Salish Kendra in a statement.
Hasina, 77, remains in a self -imposed exile in India, where she fled after being expelled last year.
She has challenged the orders to return to Dhaka to face charges equivalent to crimes against humanity. His judgment in absence continues.
