Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, is under growing international scrutiny following accusations that it has weaponized the country’s anti-terrorism law to silence political opponents.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday that the administration has used the amended Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) to detain thousands of people, including journalists, academics, and opposition members, on dubious charges. The watchdog warned that many detainees face mistreatment, lack of medical care, and indefinite detention.
“The interim government should not be engaging in the same partisan behavior that Bangladeshis endured under Sheikh Hasina,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW’s deputy Asia director. “It should focus on creating conditions for safe and participatory elections.”
The Yunus-led interim government came to power on August 5, 2024, after weeks of violent protests toppled Prime Minister Hasina. HRW’s statement alleges that the new regime has filled prisons with perceived opponents while ignoring violence by its supporters.
The Expanding Reach of the Anti-Terrorism Act
On May 12, 2025, the government invoked new provisions in the ATA to impose a “temporary” ban on the Awami League (AL), the country’s dominant political party for over a decade. The ban prohibits all party meetings, publications, and online activity and is now being used to justify arrests of Awami League leaders and activists.
Officials defended the amendments as necessary to hold former officials accountable for past “abuses of power.” But HRW, Bangladesh’s Editors’ Council, and Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) warn that the law’s broad definitions of terrorism and sedition threaten freedom of expression and press liberty.
“The amendments will curtail the people’s right to speak and limit the scope of free media,” said the Editors’ Council in a statement. Yunus’s office, however, denied any restrictions on free expression.
Death in Custody Sparks Outrage
Public anger surged last month after the death of Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, a senior Awami League leader and freedom fighter who died in custody at age 75. Viral photos showed him handcuffed to a hospital bed despite being gravely ill.
Legal experts said the shackling violated a 2018 High Court ruling prohibiting indiscriminate use of restraints. Rights lawyer Abu Obyaidur Rahman called the treatment “an extreme breach of human dignity.”
The government claimed the photos were taken earlier in Humayun’s hospitalization, but the images sparked outrage across political lines, symbolizing what critics describe as a climate of “selective justice” under the Yunus administration.
A Year of Mass Detentions
Since August 2024, over 44,000 people have been arrested under the interim regime — most accused of links to the Awami League. Rights groups say many were charged with murder or terrorism without credible evidence.
Police data show that in Dhaka alone, 97 ATA cases were filed against Awami League affiliates since October 2024, leading to more than 1,100 arrests. The majority were later granted bail due to weak evidence.
Authorities also launched “Operation Devil Hunt,” a sweeping joint-forces campaign that detained more than 11,000 alleged Awami League “militants.” Critics say the operation targets peaceful opposition activity, while violent regime supporters enjoy impunity.
Awami League Joint General Secretary A.F.M. Bahauddin Nasim condemned the arrests as a “witch hunt in the name of counterterrorism.”
“The illegal government of Yunus has released militants and unleashed mobs on ordinary citizens while jailing journalists, teachers, and artists,” Nasim said.
Human Rights Watch vs. UN Legitimacy
The HRW report coincides with a growing debate over the role of the United Nations in Bangladesh’s political transition. A Canadian policy institute, the Global Center for Democratic Governance (GCDG), recently accused the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) of producing a politically biased report that legitimized Yunus’s interim rule.
The GCDG’s study argues that the UN’s February 2025 fact-finding mission exaggerated abuses under Sheikh Hasina’s government while downplaying post-coup violence committed by Yunus’s supporters and Islamist groups.
“The UN report’s selective framing effectively provided political cover to a regime installed with military and Islamist backing,” the GCDG said, noting that the OHCHR’s six-week investigation window (July 1–August 15, 2024) excluded widespread reprisals that erupted after Hasina’s resignation.
It also accused the UN of methodological flaws — including limited interviews, restricted access to military officials, and pre-publication vetting by the Yunus administration — all of which, it said, compromised the report’s neutrality.
Political Fallout and International Reaction
The UN’s report has already influenced Bangladesh’s judiciary. In August 2025, the High Court cited it as a “historic document,” giving it quasi-legal weight in cases against the Awami League — a move critics say institutionalizes bias.
Meanwhile, foreign governments have expressed unease. The United States and India have urged Dhaka to ensure credible elections, scheduled for February 2026. But as mass arrests continue, observers warn that the interim government’s actions risk entrenching authoritarianism under a humanitarian façade.
“The Bangladesh case shows how human rights oversight can be manipulated as a tool of political engineering,” the GCDG report concluded. “When neutrality collapses, both justice and victims lose.”
