Six congressmen and senators have urged the US authorities to impose sanctions on Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan for their role in “gross human rights violations” during the recent protests in Bangladesh.
They have written to the US Secretary of State and Secretary of Treasury.
“The use of violent force against peaceful protesters exercising their freedom of expression is an unacceptable violation of human rights. The Bangladeshi leaders who orchestrated this brutal crackdown must be held accountable, which is why we’re calling upon the Administration to sanction (Awami League) General Secretary Obaidul Quader and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, as we continue working to support a peaceful and democratic Bangladesh,” said Senator Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The signatories are congressmen Lloyd Doggett and Al Green from Texas, James P McGovern and William R Keating from Massachusetts, as well as senators Chris Van Hollen from Maryland and Edward Markey from Massachusetts.
Doggett and Van Hollen led the push for sanctions.
“On July 15, the ruling Awami League deployed the police and paramilitary forces to suppress students peacefully protesting unfair quotas in government jobs. Over the next week, security forces used disproportionate, unlawful force and fired rubber bullets, pellet guns, sound grenades, tear gas, and live rounds against student protesters. These violations were part of a broader crackdown on dissent by the Awami League, whose leaders have not been held to account for their human rights abuses,” said the letter sent to Secretary of State Anthony J Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
“Following the violent crackdown on July 15, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina imposed a nationwide curfew and digital communications blackout, which the UN Human Rights Council deems a violation of international human rights law. As Home Affairs Minister, Khan bears responsibility for the conduct of the police and Border Guard Bangladesh, the two agencies responsible for most of the violence. General Secretary Quader, meanwhile, sent the Awami League’s student wing, the Chhatra League, to attack peaceful protesters and issued ‘shoot-on-sight’ orders,” it added.
“It is estimated that at least 200 people were killed and thousands injured, with the real figures likely much higher.”
“On August 4, the AL brutally suppressed revived protests that demanded Prime Minister Hasina resign. General Secretary Quader and Home Minister Khan again deployed security forces and the Chhatra League to attack peaceful protestors, and nearly 100 people died in the resulting violence. Prime Minister Hasina re-imposed a nationwide curfew and communications blackout,” it continued.
“While Hasina has resigned and fled the country, senior leaders of the AL have faced no consequences for their gross violations of human rights. US sanctions on Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion have been successful in decreasing extrajudicial killings, but they are insufficient given current realities,” wrote the congressmen.
