Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2009 - Bangladesh

Political context

Despite both domestic and international calls, the state of emergency declared by President Iajuddin Ahmed on January 11, 2007 was not lifted until December 16, 2008, twelve days before national elections. Under the draconian legal framework of the emergency powers – the Emergency Powers Ordinance (EPO) and the Emergency Power Rules (EPR), both issued in January 2007 – the police and the military continued to arrest and detain thousands of people without charge or trial, violating basic due process rights.1 The decision of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on April 23, 2008 that the prohibition on considering bail applications in EPR matters applied to all courts (including the Supreme Court itself) further exacerbated the situation, giving carte blanche to the Government to arrest and detain those considered as a threat. Torture of persons in custody, in some cases even leading to death, continued to be routine as did extrajudicial killings by the security forces, in particular the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the police.2 Impunity also continued to prevail with no RAB or other law enforcement agent being held accountable for any killing.>more> http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a5f301823.html