3. April 2014

Die internationale Menschenrechtsorganisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) berichtet in einer Pressemitteilung vom 27. Jänner 2014:

„Joint Forces consisting of the Bangladesh Police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the Border Guards Bangladesh continue to arrest opposition supporters, some of whom are accused of involvement in violent protests before and during the January 5, 2014 elections which were boycotted by opposition parties. Security forces claim that the deaths after arrest occurred during ‘crossfire,’ which Human Rights Watch has previously documented is used by security forces as a common euphemism to describe what they claim to be shootouts, but which in reality appears to be the killing of people already in detention. […] More than 150 people died before the polls, the bloodiest in Bangladesh’s history. Many were ordinary citizens whose vehicles were set on fire by opposition supporters. Human Rights Watch interviews suggest a recent pattern of extrajudicial killings by security forces. Azharul Islam, a leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) student wing in Satkhira district, was killed on January 27, a day after his arrest for murder and for taking part in the pre-election violence, a police spokesman said. The police said he died in crossfire when he was leading the police to an opposition ‘hideout.’ […] In each case the police said they only opened fire after coming under attack. Also among those who have died recently are two BNP members accused of involvement in one of the worst incidents of pre-election violence. Atiqul Islam Atiq and Golam Rabbani were both wanted by the police in connection with an attack on the motorcade of ruling party Member of Parliament Asaduzzaman Noor, on December 14, 2013. According to the police, the attackers killed five people, including four members of the Awami League. The police charged 1,500 people with involvement in the attack and named 14 ringleaders, including Atiqul Islam Atiq and Golam Rabbani. According to a relative of Atiq, he was taken from his house, along with a cousin, Mohidul Islam, on January 13, 2014, by five or six men who said they were from the detective branch of the police. The police told family members that he was first taken to Deldowar police station and then to Tangail district headquarters. Atiq’s body was subsequently discovered by the side of a road on January 20 with a bullet injury to the back of the head. Mohidul Islam is still missing. According to relatives, Golam Rabbani was taken away by a large group of men at dawn on January 15. The men wore black uniforms resembling those of the RAB, but they were not carrying rifles. The RAB does not have a camp in the area, and denied any knowledge of Rabbani’s detention when questioned informally through friends and relatives who work for the RAB. The police also denied knowledge of his whereabouts. Rabbani’s body was found on January 19 with two bullet wounds to his head and a rope around his neck. A relative who saw his corpse said it was bruised in several places, suggesting he had been tortured.” (HRW, 27. Jänner 2014)

Al Jazeera, ein in Doha (Katar) ansässiger Nachrichtensender, berichtet im Februar 2014:

„Robiul Islam was arrested on January 27, his neighbours told Al Jazeera. ‘Police sources had later informed that, following a tip-off, a team of the joint forces [the police and paramilitary agencies] had conducted a raid,’ said Saifur Rahman, a journalist based in Jessore. ‘After they were allegedly attacked by opposition activists, a gunfight ensued between the two sides, during which Robiul was shot.’ […] The Bangladesh National Party (BNP) activist died a few hours later, at a nearby health facility. The police alleged that Islam was involved in the killing of Chaitanya Kumar Mandal, a local ruling party leader, a day earlier. While the names and locations change, the story remains the same across the country, as police and security forces claim those who have been shot dead in custody over the past month had themselves been involved in killings. On January 30, Touhidul Islam, one of the BNP's district party leaders, was also killed in a similar ‘gunfight’ after he was arrested in Sonaimuri. In its January 2014 monthly report, Odhikar, a Dhaka-based human rights group, counted more than 30 extra-judicial killings, "allegedly conducted by RAB [Rapid Action Battalion], police, BGB [the paramilitary Border Guard] and joint forces" - in that one month alone. The report also said that 26 of those killed were either activists or leaders of the BNP or Jamaat, the country's laregst Islamist party. Atiqur Rahman, a joint secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra Dal - the student wing of the BNP - was one of those killed last month. […] Some 302 BNP leaders and activists - and its 18 allies - have been either murdered or ‘disappeared’ between December 26 and January 27, said Khaleda Zia, BNP chairperson, on February 4. Some 29,262 opposition supporters were arrested across the country during the same period, she said. ‘Security forces and ruling party activists were behind the killings and forced disappearance,’ said Zia, a two-time former prime minister. ‘According to the information collected at BNP headquarters, in one month, 242 opposition leaders and activists were killed and 60 were victims of enforced disappearances,’ Zia told reporters. The fear of arrests and extrajudicial killings has gripped political campaigners. ‘Naturally, there is a confusion and fear especially among our grassroots activists,’ Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, the BNP's joint general secretary, told Al Jazeera. He said the pervasive trend of extrajudicial killings and attacks, allegedly pushed by ‘the dictatorial government’, was dampening the spirit of party workers and leaders. ‘But it is also enforcing their collective belief and will to fuel the movement against such oppressions,’ he added.” (Al Jazeera, 11. Februar 2014)

Das von Exil-BurmesInnen betriebene Nachrichtenmagazin The Irrawaddy berichtet im Jänner 2014:

„Political violence has convulsed Bangladesh in recent months as opposition activists staged attacks, strikes and transportation blockades to protest Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government. Nearly 300 people have been killed in the violence since last February. After her party swept the largely uncontested elections, Hasina said Monday that her first priority was to contain the violence with an “iron hand.” On Tuesday, detectives arrested four opposition leaders, including an adviser to opposition chief and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. All four are still in jail. Many other senior opposition leaders, including a former law minister, have been arrested in recent months on charges of fueling violence and also remain jailed. Police say they are investigating the charges, which the opposition says are politically motivated. Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, acting secretary-general of Zia’s main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, said this week that hundreds of party leaders and activists had gone into hiding because of harassment by authorities.” (The Irrawaddy, 10. Jänner 2014)

Die US-amerikanische Tageszeitung Wall Street Journal (WSJ) berichtet am 7. Jänner 2014:

„Police in Bangladesh detained at least four senior opposition figures on Tuesday—adding to the dozens already behind bars— as the government continued to crack down on adversaries in the wake of a controversial weekend election. […] In the months ahead of the elections, thousands of Ms. Hasina’s political opponents were jailed in what the government says was an effort to ensure public safety and the opposition says was a move to keep it from taking power after it won local elections and a parliamentary by-election last year to fill the seat of a Parliament member who had died. […] Police have effectively confined BNP head Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister, to her Dhaka home for nearly two weeks, preventing her from joining rallies and detaining supporters who came to meet her. […] On Tuesday, police said they detained Khandoker Mahbub Hossain, a top adviser to Ms. Zia, shortly after a seminar in which he criticized the government. Mr. Hossain, a lawyer, is vice chairman of Bangladesh’s Bar Council. Police didn’t explain why he was arrested. Police also arrested BNP Vice Chairman Selima Rahman from her house in Dhaka, shortly after she held a news conference demanding the release of opposition leaders. Nazim Uddin Ahmed, a BNP member of parliament, and Fazlul Haque Milon, a senior BNP leader were also arrested on Tuesday. None of the detained politicians had been charged with a crime by Tuesday evening, police said.” (WSJ, 7. Jänner 2014)

Die Nachrichtenagentur Agence France-Presse (AFP) berichtet in einer Meldung vom Dezember 2013:

„[T]he main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said police were barring anyone from visiting their leader Khaleda Zia at her home in Dhaka. The move comes after Zia, a two-time former premier and arch rival of current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, called for supporters to stage a mass march on the capital this Sunday aimed at scuppering the polls. The BNP is one of 21 opposition parties which are boycotting the elections over Hasina’s refusal to stand aside and allow a neutral caretaker government to organise the contest. […] ‘Since yesterday she has been under virtual house arrest,’ BNP vice-president Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury told AFP. ‘Police are not allowing anyone, including party leaders and activists, to meet her. […] Police confirmed two senior BNP members, including a current lawmaker, were detained outside Zia’s home on Wednesday night but denied the arrests were made because they wanted to meet her. Another BNP lawmaker was arrested separately in the capital on Thursday, police spokesman Masudur Rahman told AFP.” (AFP, 26. Dezember 2013)

Die Nachrichtenagentur Reuters schreibt im Februar 2014:

„The head of Bangladesh’s largest opposition party, the BNP, accused the government on Tuesday of being involved in the killing or disappearance of more than 300 activists around the time of the country’s election. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted the violence-plagued vote on January 5 that was won by the ruling Awami League - its great rivals which the BNP has alternated power with over the decades. The government had no specific response to the accusation but said such BNP allegations had previously been found to be untrue. Begum Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister, said her party had details of 242 supporters who had been killed and 60 who had disappeared between December 26 and January 27, as well as another 22,000 who had been arrested. ‘The activities of plainclothes security forces have significantly increased after the election,’ Khaleda told reporters. ‘They (the government) are sponsoring state run terrorism to wipe out the opposition’s leaders and activists.’ Such accusations are relatively common in the intense rivalry, and often violent confrontations, of Bangladesh's politics. It is difficult to verify either side’s allegations, but it has sometimes turned out that the numbers involved are inflated.” (Reuters, 4. Februar 2014)

Die britische Zeitung Financial Times (FT) berichtet im November 2013:

„The Bangladesh government arrested five senior opposition leaders at the weekend following violent general strikes launched in protest at the handling of the country’s forthcoming general elections. Three leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) have been taken into custody, along with two advisers to Khaleda Zia, the opposition leader. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday. […] ‘The five have been accused of inciting violence, exploding bombs and obstructing officers in keeping law and order,’ Anisur Rahman, deputy police commissioner in Dhaka, told AFP. The detainees could be released if the BNP calls off the shutdown and agrees to talks, said Hasan Mahmud, environment and forest minister. The arrests are part of a wider government crackdown in Bangladesh with some 1,000 BNP followers and members arrested in rural areas since Friday. […] The clampdown comes after the BNP called for a three-day shutdown, or ‘hartal’, aimed at pressuring the ruling Awami League to hold the forthcoming general election under a neutral caretaker government.” (FT, 10. November 2013)

Über die im FT-Artikel vom November 2013 genannten Ereignisse berichtet auch AsiaNews, eine italienische Nachrichtenwebsite, die sich auf Berichterstattung zu Asien spezialisiert hat:

 

In seinem im Februar 2014 veröffentlichten Länderbericht zur Menschenrechtslage führt das US-Außenministerium (US Department of State, USDOS) folgende Ereignisse aus dem Berichtsjahr 2013 an:

„On March 11 [2013], police raided the opposition BNP’s central office and arrested more than 150 party officials during a BNP rally. Police claimed they found Molotov cocktails and bomb-making materials inside the BNP office. BNP leaders alleged the police claim was baseless and a cover to justify the office raid and party leaders’ arrest. Authorities charged BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Alamgir with 52 criminal counts and detained him for 91 days. Alamgir faced trial in 15 cases at year’s end.“ (USDOS, 27. Februar 2014, Section 1d)

In den ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehenden Quellen konnten im Rahmen der zeitlich begrenzten Recherche nur wenige spezifische Informationen zu Anklagen gegen BNP-Mitglieder nach den Wahlen im Jänner 2014 wegen Teilnahme an Demonstrationen gegen die Regierung bzw. die Awami League gefunden werden.

 

In einer Pressemitteilung vom 3. Jänner 2014 berichtet Human Rights Watch (HRW) über folgende Vorfälle:

„According to news reports, police statements, and members of the opposition parties, more than a thousand opposition supporters have been arrested since December 24, after the leader of the BNP, Khaleda Zia, called for an anti-government ‘March for Democracy’ to be held in Dhaka on December 29. Many were stopped as they travelled to attend the rally. […] On December 29, the day of the protest, anyone approaching the headquarters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party was arrested. Three small rallies were held by opposition-supporting lawyers, journalists, and university teachers at the Supreme Court, the National Press Club and Dhaka University, respectively. Each was broken up by supporters of the Awami League who were armed with bamboo sticks, while the police looked on. The following day, at least 409 people were brought before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka, a court reporter told Human Rights Watch. Of these, most were charged with offences relating to political violence, such as vandalism, arson, holding weapons, or using explosives. Hundreds remained under arrest in other parts of the country according to news reports. Nearly 30 senior opposition figures have been detained in connection to the violence and many others have been charged. The acting secretary general of the BNP Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was accused on December 25 along with 39 others, of instigating an attack on a bus in which one policeman died. Mahbub Uddin Khokon, a BNP member of parliament and senior lawyer, was arrested in the same case. Shortly before his arrest on December 26, he had filed a bail petition in the Dhaka High Court for five senior BNP leaders accused of instigating violence. His petitions stated that the police did not have arrest warrants, and none of the leaders were named in the original police complaint. There are also allegations that two leaders of the BNP in Comilla district, in eastern Bangladesh, have disappeared after being arrested by the paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Relatives of former BNP parliamentarian, Saiful Islam Hiru, told Human Rights Watch that he was picked up along with two other men on November 27. One of them was later handed over to the police, and has since told Hiru’s family that he witnessed RAB forces detain Hiru and Humayun Kabir, the chairman of a local BNP committee. RAB denies the arrest.” (HRW, 3. Jänner 2014)

In einem Artikel vom März 2014 berichtet BBC News:

„Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and other leading opposition members are to go on trial next month on corruption charges. Ms Zia and her associates deny embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable funds. The court in Dhaka set 21 April as the start of the trial after rejecting her lawyers’ pleas for more time. […] Prosecutors say she and three co-accused took 31.5m taka (about $400,000) from a charitable trust named after former president Ziaur Rahman, her late husband who was assassinated in 1981, the AFP news agency reports. Ms Zia and four others, including her son Tarique Rahman, are also accused of embezzling 21.5m taka - money which prosecutors say should have gone to an orphanage set up in memory of her late husband. Ms Zia and her co-defendants say the charges against them are politically motivated.” (BBC News, 19. März 2014)

In den ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehenden Quellen konnten im Rahmen der zeitlich begrenzten Recherche keine konkreten Informationen zu innerstaatlichen Fluchtalternativen für Mitglieder der BNP gefunden werden.

 

Folgende Quellen nehmen Bezug auf „untergetauchte“ Parteimitglieder der BNP:

 

Human Rights Watch (HRW) stellt in einer Pressemitteilung vom 9. Jänner 2014 fest, dass zahlreiche AnführerInnen und AktivistInnen der Opposition untergetaucht seien (HRW, 9. Jänner 2014).

 

Die bangladeschische Zeitung Dhaka Tribune schreibt im Dezember 2013:

„With the government adopting a hard line on the opposition, top leaders of the BNP-led alliance have gone into hiding. Most of the senior leaders including acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir have been holed since the announcement of the rail-road-waterways blockade on November 26. Even grassroots leaders are keeping a low profile to avoid arrest, keeping their mobile phones switched off. Police also claimed they had failed to trace the top BNP leaders.” (Dhaka Tribune, 2. Dezember 2013)

Der bereit oben zitierte Artikel von The Irrawaddy vom Jänner 2014 erwähnt:

„On Thursday, Kaler Kantho, a leading Bengali-language daily, named at least 18 leaders of BNP and its student wing who had gone into hiding. […] Opposition activists typically take shelter in relatives’ homes or slip out of the country, pretending to be tourists or business travelers.” (The Irrawaddy, 10. Jännner 2014)

Quellen: (Zugriff auf alle Quellen am 3. April 2014)