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Human Rights Watch on Thursday said that the interim government’s arbitrary targeting of the supporters of the Awami League failed accountability.

The international rights watchdog made the remark in a release posted on its website.

‘Instead of pursuing its pledge to reform the criminal justice system and bring accountability for serious abuses, the government, led by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, is attempting to suppress the rights of supporters of the deposed leader, Sheikh Hasina, and the Awami League party,’ the release said.

On May 12, the government temporarily banned the activities of the Awami League using newly introduced powers under an amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act.

‘Sheikh Hasina’s government abused legal powers to silence political opponents, but using similar methods against the supporters of the Awami League would also violate those same fundamental freedoms,’ said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director of HRW.

Already a wide range of people including actors, lawyers, singers, and political activists have been arrested on politically motivated murder charges, with prosecutors justifying the arrests by accusing them of backing the ‘rule of fascist Hasina’, said the release.

Meanwhile, there is growing concern over delays in addressing serious abuses that occurred during the Awami League regime, it added.

The interim government banned AL activities curtailing the party supporters’ freedom of speech and association, the release said.

After the suspension was announced, the Election Commission stripped the AL of its registration, said the release.        

These moves came in the wake of the interim government’s ordinance amending the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, which gives the Tribunal broad powers to prosecute and dismantle political organisations, the release said.

It said that these powers were drafted so broadly that they could contravene international standards of due process and freedom of association.

Additionally, the Tribunal is empowered to punish ‘any group of individuals which, in the opinion of the Tribunal, propagates, supports, endorses, facilitates, or engages in the activities of such a [banned] party or entity’.

Those accused of committing crimes under Hasina’s government should be appropriately prosecuted, but imposing a ban on any speech or activity deemed supportive of a political party is an excessive restriction on fundamental freedoms that mirrors the previous government’s abusive clampdown on political opponents, the statement said.

‘The draft legislation on enforced disappearances, on the other hand, does little to advance justice or provide answers for the hundreds of victims and families affected by disappearances under Hasina’s rule.’

The Awami League regime was ousted on August 5, 2024 amid a student-led mass uprising.