Rights Groups Urge UN Action On Detention Of 49 Awami League Activists

Paris, June 10 (IANS) Several prominent international human rights organisations have filed an urgent action petition with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), raising concerns over the alleged arbitrary arrest and detention of 49 Awami League activists, including 17 children, following a peaceful political rally in Bangladesh’s Noakhali district.The International League Against Arbitrary Detention (ILAAD), alongside Justice Makers Bangladesh in France (JMBF), made the submission to the WGAD describing the arrests as a serious violation of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, guaranteed under Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and under the Constitution of Bangladesh. They also alleged violations of the prohibition against arbitrary arrest and detention enshrined in Article 9 of the ICCPR and Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.The ILAAD and JMBF highlighted that a peaceful protest rally organised by the activists of the Chhatra League and Jubo League– the student and youth wings of the Awami League – was held on the afternoon of June 5 in the Badharhat Market area of Noakhali Sadar Upazila.Subsequently, a few hours later, 18 individuals, including 17 children, were reportedly detained in the Pouro Bazar area of Maijdee town by activists of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) student organisation, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, and handed over to the police.Additionally, between the night of June 5 and the early hours of June 6, police conducted operations in the Eojbalia, Kaladaraap, and Noakhali Municipality areas of Noakhali Sadar Upazila and detained 24 individuals.”In total, 49 individuals were arrested solely for their participation in, or alleged preparation of, a peaceful political rally. No allegations of violence, vandalism, or threat to public safety have been made against any of the detainees,” the human rights organisations alleged.Condemning the incident, the ILAAD and JMBF said, “The detention of 17 children is of the gravest concern. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Bangladesh acceded in 1990, the detention of minors must be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. The children in Noakhali were deprived of their liberty not for any act of violence, but solely on the basis of their alleged political affiliation and participation in a lawful assembly — a practice fundamentally incompatible with international juvenile justice standards.”The organisations urged the WGAD to intervene and call on the Government of Bangladesh for the immediate and unconditional release of the 49 detainees, including the 17 children, and the withdrawal of all charges and proceedings initiated against them.They also sought full respect for the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, along with an independent, impartial and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the arrests, in accorce with Bangladesh’s international human rights obligations. scorrs