‘Kangaroo Courts’ in Bangladesh: IPU Raises Alarm Over Trials of Ex-MPs

The Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) has welcomed a resolution adopted unanimously by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Governing Council at its 216th session in Geneva on October 23, expressing concern over alleged human rights violations, arbitrary arrests, intimidation, and due process failures in Bangladesh.

The resolution pertains to the arrest and detention of six former parliamentarians — Saber Chowdhury, Fazle Karim Chowdhury, Habibe Millat, Asaduzzaman Noor, Mosharraf Hossain, and Muhammad Faruk Khan — all members of the Awami League. The RRAG is among the complainants that brought the issue to the IPU’s attention.

According to the IPU, more than 100 former Awami League lawmakers are currently in detention in Bangladesh, facing multiple criminal proceedings. The situation took a grim turn after former parliamentarian Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun died in custody on September 29 this year.

The IPU resolution highlighted repeated difficulties faced by its independent trial observer, who was unable to visit Bangladesh on two occasions due to visa delays. It also noted that requests to facilitate an IPU delegation’s travel to the country have gone unanswered.

“The denial of visas to IPU observers and delegation members shows that the interim government led by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus is trying jailed former parliamentarians in kangaroo courts and has gross human rights violations to hide,” RRAG Director Suhas Chakma said.

The IPU voiced “deep concern” over the continued detention of several former lawmakers, citing allegations of appalling prison conditions, deteriorating health, and violations of fair trial standards. It also expressed alarm that some charges could carry the death penalty and that the proliferation of criminal cases may be politically motivated.

The Geneva-based body reiterated its intention to send a trial observer and a delegation to Bangladesh “as soon as possible” to meet with government officials, judicial authorities, prison administrators, civil society organizations, and others with relevant information.

Chakma further urged the international community to reassess its support for the interim government, arguing that “Dr Yunus has no respect for the rule of law, has turned the judiciary into kangaroo courts, and the case is building up for stripping him of the Nobel Prize.”

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