Un says sheikh hasina action can be a crime against humanity ncvrs.com

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and his government have tried to adhere to power using systematic, deadly violence against protesters, which could come to “crimes against humanity”, the UN said.

UN’s human rights investigators accused the deposited government A brutal response to last year’s mass opposition said they had killed up to 1,400 people, especially security forces.

The UN Group said that political leaders and security officials were leading official policy to attack and violent oppression of anti-government protesters. ”

Hasina, who has been in office for 15 years, fled to India by helicopter, shortly before the crowd blasted her place of residence last August.

The restlessness began as a demonstration against public service job quotas and entered a national movement towards Hasina and Awami League after a deadly police action. Thousands have been injured in the worst violence they have seen since Bangladesh since the War of Independence in 1971.

UN investigators’ statements show that the then government, including Sheikh Hasina, “was aware and very serious crimes,” said Volker Türk, UN head of human rights at a press conference in Geneva.

“There is a reasonable reason for our most important findings to believe that former government officials, its security and intelligence device, and the violent elements related to the former ruling party have committed serious and systematic human rights violations,” Mr Türk said.

UN investigators documented shooting in some demonstrators Point-Blank province, others intentional interruption, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Children were also targeted -the report estimates that 13% of the 1,400 people, which were destroyed between July 1 and August 15, had children.

“The brutal response was the calculated and well-launched strategy of the former government, which relied on power against the mass opposition,” Mr Türk said.

He said that the evidence collected by his office had “a disturbing picture of rapid state violence and targeted murders.”

“There is a reasonable reason for hundreds of extra court murders, extensive arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture with the knowledge, coordination and management of political leadership and leading security officials, as part of the strategy to suppress protests.”

The report was requested by Bangladesh caretaker, Muhammad Yunus, who said he and his temporary government remained “committed to converting Bangladesh into a country in which all their men can live safely and dignity“.

The total death number of the UN team is much higher than the government’s estimated 834 ..

The UN team compiling the report included human rights investigators, a criminal physician and a weapon expert. Their findings are primarily based on more than 230 interviews with survivors, witnesses and others. They received access to medical cases, photos, videos and other materials.

“Former senior officials who have directly involved in the management of protests and other internal sources have described how the former prime minister and other senior officials directed and supervised a series of major operations in which security and intelligence forces shot and murdered protesters or arbitrarily arrested and tortured, “the report said.

“Samples of security forces deliberately and unacceptably kill or destroy protesters, including events in which people were shot in the Point-Blank province.”

Although the report attributes most of the violence to the government’s security forces, it also raises concern for former government supporters and some religious and ethnic supporters.

These must also be examined, said the UN Human Rights Office.