| Lift emergency, restore rights: Odhikar | ||||||||
 Bdnews24.com , Dhaka | ||||||||
| Human rights body Odhikar called for immediate lifting of the state of emergency and restoration of fundamental rights, in a report released yesterday. The domestic rights watchdog released the report marking a year under emergency rule since Jan 11, 2007. The organisation expressed grave concern over arrest and detention without due process, custodial torture and extra-judicial killings. Odhikar also recommended the release of all political prisoners and university teachers, students and employees arrested after the August 2007 campus protest. "Reports on serious and credible allegations of torture and violation of human rights continued to cause concern throughout the year of emergency," the report said on the matter of custodial tortures. "Suspects were picked up by the law enforcement agencies, detained and tortured while they were in custody." Another kind of torture was reported during the period of the past year, Odhikar said, as people were taken in to remand in order to extract evidence to use against them or others, especially those accused of corruption. "On many occasion arrestees were tortured into giving confessional statements, while some were even threatened with death by 'crossfire'," said the report. Since the state of emergency it is reported that 929 people were detained under the Special Powers Act alone. Among them 395 people are still under detention. "Most of these detainees are political persons," Odhikar reported. After arrest in many cases, it was reported that the detainees were no brought before the magistrate within the constitutionally mandated timeframe. The organisation expressed particular concern about the manner of arrest and continued detention of university teachers and students following the August 2007 campus protest, and that due process of law was not followed. Odhikar also highlighted the cases against jute mill garment workers and against numerous unnamed people for violating the state of emergency. The rights watchdog claimed extrajudicial killings "continued unabated during the one year of emergency". "Between 12 January 2007 and 10 January 2008, 176 people have reportedly been killed extra-judicially killed by Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies," the report said. "Among them a total of 66 people died while in the custody of law enforcement agencies . 123 people were killed in so called 'crossfire'/encounter/gunfight/shootout," the report said. "Odhikar is concerned about the impact of the Emergency Powers rules on freedom of expression and, in particular, on media freedom". It cited the August 2007 restrictions on Ekushey Television and CSB news as examples. Odhikar recommendations to the caretaker government included lifting the state of emergency and "creating an enabling environment for dialogue, change and democratic polity". It also called for the release of all "political prisoners" and independent judicial inquiries into all extra-judicial killings. odhikar.org
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