According to the United Nations, the former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government was responsible for possible “crimes against humanity” as it struggled to maintain power in 2018. Before Hasina was deposed in a mostly student-led revolution in August, her government oversaw a systematic assault on protestors, resulting in “hundreds of extrajudicial killings,” the UN human rights office said in a fact-finding report on Wednesday. Recommended Stories:

The report alleges that the government, violent elements of the Awami League party, and Bangladeshi security and intelligence services committed crimes against protesters and civilians in order to maintain power.

Hasina, 77, who escaped into exile in neighboring India, has already resisted an arrest warrant to stand trial in Bangladesh for crimes against humanity.

Up to 1,400 killed in 45 days

The UN team found that Bangladesh’s security forces supported Hasina’s government throughout the unrest, which began as protests against civil service job quotas and escalated into calls for her to step down. The rights office estimated that the Hasina government used increasingly violent means to suppress the protests, resulting in “as many as 1,400 people may have been killed” and thousands injured over 45 days.

Odhikar reported 12 deaths that occurred between August 9 and December 31, 2024. Three of them were in police custody, while the rest were under the authority of various security agencies, including the armed forces and the notorious paramilitary Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Odhikar reports that at least seven people died as a result of torture, with four suffering from gunshot wounds. According to the report, the cops battered another person before pushing him off a bridge. The armed forces’ public relations director, Sami-Ud-Dowla Chowdhury, told AFP that Bangladesh’s security services are “investigating all cases.” According to police spokeswoman Inamul Haque Sagar, officers have been instructed to “refrain from activities beyond their jurisdiction”. “Even the friends of the fascist regime have the right to justice,” Odhikar’s Elan stated. “Extrajudicial killings.”