Bangladesh government urged to respect human rights

Sat Aug 25, 7:16 AM ET

Bangladesh's military-backed government was on Saturday urged to uphold human rights after it imposed a curfew and made dozens of arrests to quell three days of rioting.

Leading rights lawyer Sultana Kamal said although unlawful behaviour by protesters was unjustified, she appealed to the government to protect human rights in cracking down on the rioters.

"I am concerned over the arrest of the five teachers," said Kamal, director of the country's foremost human rights group, the Law and Mediation Centre.

"I hope the government will deal with the matter with utmost transparency," she said.

Five university professors have been detained by security forces for their alleged involvement in the protests that spiralled out of control on Wednesday, prompting the government to announce the curfew.

The academics were arrested in raids in Dhaka and northwestern Rajshahi, where one bystander was killed and dozens injured in a clash on Wednesday.

Police also filed cases against between 30,000 and 50,000 unnamed people for breaking the curfew and taking part in the protests, reports said Saturday.

The charges are standard police practice in Bangladesh.

Journalists and photographers have also been beaten up by security forces since the curfew was imposed.

The leader of the nation's emergency government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has accused politically-motivated thugs of hijacking the demonstrations in Bangladesh, which has been under emergency rule since January.

"The Bangladesh government must respect international human rights standards as it enforces a curfew and seeks to police demonstrations," US-based Human Rights Watch said.

Analyst and former diplomat Mohammd Jamir warned the government against circumventing judicial process when dealing with the protesters.

"The government took a much-needed measure essential to quell the violence which was unacceptable. No government can play the role of bystander when private property is being destroyed," said Jamir.

"But the government must not use the curfew and the emergency to avoid going through the due process of law," he said.

The curfew was imposed to avoid "anarchy" after protests were sparked by army personnel manhandling students on Dhaka University campus on Monday.

Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency since January 11 when elections were cancelled after months of violence over vote-rigging allegations.

The new government, which took over the following day, has promised new polls by the end of 2008 after it has completed a massive anti-corruption drive to clean up the country's graft-ridden politics.

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