Dhaka: Hundreds of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party supporters protested on Sunday to mark International Human Rights Day, as the country gears up for a general election on January 7 that the opposition says should be held under a non-partisan, caretaker government.
The party, led by former PM Khaleda Zia, is boycotting the election, leaving voters with little choice but to reelect Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League for a fourth consecutive term.
At Sunday’s protest in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka, opposition activists said they do not think a fair and free election can take place under Hasina’s watch. The gathering took place weeks after a massive opposition rally on October 28 turned violent.
The party’s decision to boycott the polls comes amid a crackdown that has seen hundreds of opposition politicians jailed and critics silenced, an allegation authorities deny. Protesters on Sunday carried banners that read “Human chain of family members of the victims of murder and enforced disappearances” and “We want the unconditional release of all prisoners.”
After the October 28 rally, authorities arrested thousands of party leaders and activists. Many others have gone into hiding, and hundreds have been convicted by courts on charges of violence or subversive acts that the opposition says are politically motivated.
BNP has tallied five deaths in custody among its activists in the past two weeks, party legal chief Kayser Kamal told AFP. “We’ve learnt that many BNP activists were tortured in police custody after they were arrested,” he said.