Dhaka, Bangladesh (CU)_ Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland that she should publicly explain remarks she made complimenting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her government’s way of handling Covid-19. Scotland celebrated Sheikh Hasina’s leadership as caring and encouraging in an opinion piece and a tweet published on March 5, 2021.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, pointing out to the death of the writer in the prison, said, “The Bangladesh government’s response to Covid-19 has been to use the pandemic as a pretext to further censor free speech and the media, threaten academic freedom, and arrest artists, students, doctors, political opposition members, and activists for speaking out about the government’s handling of the pandemic. This is neither compassionate nor inspiring.”
Scotland’s remarks arrived few days after the revolutionary journalist Mushtaq Ahmed died in custody on February 25. In May of 2020, Ahmed was detained for arguing and posting on Facebook that healthcare staff needed more personal protective equipment. He was kept in solitary confinement for nine months, where he was reportedly tortured. Following a public uproar over Ahmed’s death, the cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, who was also arrested at the same time, was given bail. He said he was subjected to extreme torture after being apprehended, and that Ahmed had been severely beaten.
In the Commonwealth constitution, member states promise to uphold core values and standards, such as human rights, freedom of speech, the rule of law, and the role of civil society. According to the Commonwealth website, “The Commonwealth Secretariat is the intergovernmental organization that supports member countries to achieve the Commonwealth’s aims of development, democracy and peace to promote justice and human rights … support decision-makers to make good laws … help strengthen governance and build inclusive public institutions.”
Adams said, “It is hard to understand what criteria the Commonwealth used to conclude that Sheikh Hasina should be lauded for her leadership and singled out as an inspiring figure. Baroness Scotland should clarify her statements and stand with victims against abuses in Bangladesh, including those carried out as part of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
