Bangladeshi courts have handed down convictions to over 200 officials and activists from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), mostly in absentia, bringing the total sentenced to nearly 500 since last month, according to lawyers on Thursday. The BNP claims the cases are politically motivated, aimed at stifling the only opposition party capable of challenging Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule. As Bangladesh gears up for a general election on January 7, concerns rise over the fairness of the political landscape.
Many of those convicted faced historic charges related to protest violence, receiving sentences ranging from 2.5 to seven years. Prosecutor Monir uz Zaman revealed that 75 BNP activists were sentenced in a Dhaka court to 2.5 years for violence and arson during political turmoil in 2013, with 72 of them now labeled as “absconding” fugitives. Other prosecutors reported additional convictions for violence in 2013, 2018, and 2015.
Defense lawyer Nazrul Islam expressed concerns about the speed at which the cases were conducted, suggesting they were rushed. Kayser Kamal, BNP’s legal chief, claimed that nearly 500 BNP officials and activists, including former lawmakers and youth leaders, have been sentenced recently. Kamal denounced the trials as “staged, baseless, and politically motivated.”
The BNP, aiming to force Hasina to step down and allow a neutral government to oversee the polls, has faced a crackdown by the police. Since late last month, the police have arrested a significant portion of the BNP’s top leadership and thousands of its activists and supporters.
International organisations, including Amnesty International, have raised concerns over the convictions, characterising them as part of pre-election repression. Yasasmin Kaviratne, a regional campaigner for Amnesty International, emphasised that those incarcerated are not allowed to vote, highlighting a “chilling pattern of repression” against opposition leaders and activists.
Apart from the convictions, the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party, claim at least 16,000 of their activists have been arrested since October 28. Police, in response, accuse the opposition of torching nearly 290 vehicles, mostly buses, during nationwide strikes and transport blockades, resulting in at least six deaths.
