B'desh: Awami League slams Yunus regime for 'oppression, persecution' of party leaders

Dhaka, Sep 22 (IANS) Bangladesh’s Awami League strongly criticized the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government on Monday, alleging that its leaders and activists, especially women, have been subjected to severe physical and mental abuse in prison, as well as harassment through a wave of fabricated cases.

Raising deep concern, the party stated that “the illegal usurper, killer-fascist Yunus and his clique are sparing no means in carrying out oppression and persecution against Awami League leaders and activists.”

The Awami League alleged that false and harassing cases have been filed against former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as well as leaders and activists at all levels of the party. It added that the party leaders and activists are being unjustly kept behind bars, with many killed through torture inside the prisons, while inhuman physical and mental abuse continues unabated.

“Now, this illegal usurper has introduced new brutal methods of subjecting women leaders and activists to extreme, barbaric torture inside the prisons. When they try to speak to the jail superintendent about any issue, they are physically humiliated, and if they protest, the guards and other inmates are used to inflict further disgraceful abuse and torture,” read a statement issued by the Awami League.

According to the party, to maximize harassment, its leaders and activists are also being shown arrested in "false and fabricated cases" across different parts of the country and then transferred to various prisons.

Condemning the extreme and despicable torture and persecution, the party said, “Such horrific accounts of abuse will wound the conscience of any right-minded person, and their collective outrage will rise up to deliver a crushing response against these tyrannical, killer-fascist Yunus clique.”

Recently, the Awami League came down heavily on the Yunus-led interim government over the "brutal torture and killing" of the party leaders and activists inside prisons across the country.

“Acting on the instructions of the illegal and unconstitutional usurper government, prison officials have brutally tortured and killed many Awami League leaders and activists,” the party stated.

Earlier in July, the Awami League called on the interim government to ensure full, transparent, and independent investigations into the reported custodial deaths of at least 24 members of the party since the Yunus-led interim government seized power in Bangladesh.

The party also urged the international community, human rights organisations, and all defenders of justice to stand with the families of the victims, demanding independent investigations into these deaths in custody across Bangladesh.

--IANS

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