Bangladesh: pro-Hasina rally prevented, UN to investigate repression of protests

A mob armed with bamboo and plastic poles on Thursday blocked supporters of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from gathering in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, where the United Nations will visit to investigate the crackdown on protests that led to the leader's downfall.

Sheikh Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to India on August 5 as the streets of Dhaka were filled with protesters demanding her departure after 15 years of unchallenged rule, following weeks of demonstrations that left more than 450 people dead, including 42 police officers, according to an AFP tally based on hospital and police sources.

A UN team is expected in Bangladesh “next week to investigate atrocities committed during the student revolution in July and earlier this month” and “widespread human rights violations,” said the interim government led since last Thursday by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

Mr. Yunus spoke by telephone on Wednesday with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, the statement from the new Bangladeshi authorities said.

In the meantime, the country is experiencing a special August 15. It is the anniversary of the assassination in 1975 of Ms. Hasina's father, independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, during a military coup.

Protesters surround a suspected supporter of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 15 in Dhaka, Bangladesh © AFP – LUIS TATO

Under the former Prime Minister's government, this date had been declared a national holiday and gave rise to mass demonstrations in favor of the government.

“Criticising him online has even become a criminal offence under his government, with a possible 10-year prison sentence,” Tom Kean of the International Crisis Group told AFP. “While many people still have great respect for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his achievements… it has short-circuited any real debate about his legacy,” he added.

All civil servants were ordered to pay their respects that day outside the family residence where the assassination took place. An obligation that the new provisional government, established after the fall of the regime, has ended.

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– “Guardians of our revolution” –

The residence was until recently a museum dedicated to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, but it was set on fire and vandalized by protesters a few hours after Ms Hasina fled.

Protesters carrying the Bangladeshi flag block a rally of supporters of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on August 15 in Dhaka © AFP – LUIS TATO

On Tuesday, in her first public statement since her exile, she had asked her supporters to come to the scene to “pray for the salvation of all souls by offering garlands of flowers”.

But the students behind the protest movement decided to stop them.

“The fugitive dictator Sheikh Hasina has ordered her minions and militias to go there to carry out a counter-revolution,” Imraul Hasan Kayes, 26, told AFP. “We are here as guardians of our revolution so that it does not escape us,” he said.

With no police in sight, hundreds of men, students and non-students, formed a human barricade on the street leading to the house.

Several people suspected of being supporters of the Awami League, the party of the former prime minister, were beaten with sticks, and others were taken away by force, AFP journalists saw.

Earlier this week, a Dhaka court opened a murder investigation into Hasina, two senior Awami League officials and four police officers in connection with the crackdown on anti-government protests.

Several other Awami League dignitaries have been arrested in separate investigations, including former law minister Anisul Huq and economic adviser Salman Rahman.

Protesters detain an alleged supporter of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 15 in Dhaka, Bangladesh © AFP – LUIS TATO

The two men appeared in court on Wednesday, handcuffed and wearing helmets for protection, under heavy police guard.

Muhammad Yunus returned from Europe on August 8 to head a transitional government, which faces the monumental challenge of carrying out democratic reforms.

Ms Hasina's government has been accused of systematic human rights violations, including mass arrests or extrajudicial executions of thousands of political opponents.

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