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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

organize campaign meetings and political 

rallies.The activities of NGOs continued to be 

restricted through the Foreign Donation 

(Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act. 

ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES

Enforced disappearances were routinely 

carried out by security forces, mainly 

targeting supporters of the opposition. Some 

of the disappeared were subsequently found 

dead. In a statement to the authorities in 

February, the UN Working Group on Enforced 

or Involuntary Disappearances said that the 

number of enforced disappearances had 

risen considerably in recent years. Reports 

suggested that more than 80 people were 

forcibly disappeared during the year.

In March, Hummam Quader Chowdhury, 

son of an executed leader of the opposition 

Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was released 

after six months’ incommunicado detention. 

Concerns increased for the safety of Mir 

Ahmad Bin Quasem and Abdullahil Amaan 

Azmi, also sons of executed opposition 

leaders; they disappeared in August 2016 

and their whereabouts remained unknown at 

the end of 2017. In April, Swedish Radio 

published an interview – recorded 

undercover – in which a senior member of 

the Rapid Action Battalion described how the 

unit carried out enforced disappearances and 

extrajudicial executions. In October, 

academic Mubashar Hasan was 

allegedly abducted by members of military 

intelligence; he returned home after 44 days.

JUSTICE SYSTEM

Concerns increased about the growing 

interference by the government in the 

judiciary. In July, the Chief Justice presided 

over a ruling overturning a controversial 

constitutional amendment (16th 

Amendment) which allowed parliament to 

impeach judges if charges against them of 

misconduct or incapability were upheld. The 

Prime Minister criticized the Chief Justice 

after the ruling. Subsequently in November, 

Chief Justice Sinha resigned from his post 

and left the country under circumstances 

that indicated executive interference following 

the 16th Amendment decision. 

REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS

An acute humanitarian crisis began in August 

when more than 655,000 of Myanmar’s 

mainly Muslim Rohingya fled to the district of 

Cox’s Bazar after fleeing violence inflicted by 

the Myanmar military in northern Rakhine 

State. The Myanmar military’s campaign of 

ethnic cleansing amounted to crimes against 

humanity under international law (see 

Myanmar entry). Cox’s Bazar already hosted 

approximately 400,000 Rohingya refugees 

who had fled earlier episodes of violence and 

persecution at the hands of the Myanmar 

military.

Bangladesh continued to refuse to formally 

recognize Rohingya as refugees. Reports of 

severe malnutrition were rife; children 

comprised 61% of the new arrivals and were 

particularly affected.

Rohingya women and girls were at 

heightened risk of sexual and gender-based 

violence and human trafficking, both by the 

local population and other refugees. Risk 

factors included inadequate protection or 

camp management mechanisms, poor living 

conditions, lack of a civil administration and 

police presence, as well as lack of access to 

the formal justice system and other services. 

Newly arrived Rohingya lived in squalid 

conditions and were not permitted to leave 

the camp.

In November, the governments of 

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a 

repatriation agreement to facilitate the return 

of newly arrived Rohingya to Myanmar. The 

conditions of the agreement could violate 

international standards on voluntary 

repatriation and the international legal 

principle of non-refoulement, paving the way 

for forcible return of hundreds of thousands 

of Rohingya to Myanmar where they were at 

serious risk of human rights violations.

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

Torture and other ill-treatment in custody 

remained widespread and complaints were 

rarely investigated. The 2013 Torture and 

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Custodial Death (Prevention) Act continued 

to be inadequately enforced due to a lack of 

political will and awareness among law 

enforcement agencies.

DEATH PENALTY

Scores of people were sentenced to death 

and executions took place.

In April, two people were sentenced to 

death after being convicted of crimes against 

humanity by the International Crimes 

Tribunal, a Bangladeshi court established to 

investigate the events of the 1971 

independence war. The Tribunal also 

concluded the hearing of arguments in the 

trial of six alleged war criminals in Gaibandha 

for mass killings, abductions, looting and 

arson during the 1971 war. The trial 

remained ongoing. Serious concerns 

regarding the fairness of the trial were raised 

about the Tribunal proceedings, such as 

denial of adequate time for defence lawyers 

to prepare their cases and arbitrary limitation 

of the number of witnesses.

CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS

In June, at least one person was killed and 

hundreds of homes were burned during a 

mob attack on Indigenous people in the town 

of Langadu, Rangamati Hill District. Police 

and soldiers reportedly failed to protect 

Indigenous villagers. Those made homeless 

had not been rehoused by the end of the 

year. A video posted on social media 

appeared to show soldiers using excessive 

force against students peacefully protesting 

against the violence and the 1996 

disappearance of Indigenous rights activist 

Kalpana Chakma. Mithun Chakma, an 

Indigenous rights campaigner, denounced a 

“situation of suffocation” in which he was 

forced to attend court up to eight times a 

month to answer criminal charges relating to 

11 separate cases, some of which were 

under the ICT Act and concerned articles he 

had posted on social media about human 

rights violations, thus preventing him from 

carrying out his work as a human rights 

defender.

BELARUS

Republic of Belarus

Head of state: Alyaksandr Lukashenka

Head of government: Andrey Kabyakou

Between February and April, the authorities 

violently cracked down on peaceful 

protests. The government continued to 

refuse to accept the mandate of the UN 

Special Rapporteur on human rights in 

Belarus. Several individuals seeking 

international protection were returned to 

countries where they were at risk of torture 

and other ill-treatment. Heavy legislative 

restrictions on media, NGOs, political 

parties and public assemblies remained in 

place. One person was executed and four 

were sentenced to death.

BACKGROUND

After several years with no large protests, 

mass demonstrations took place in February 

and March against a tax on the unemployed, 

introduced by a Presidential Decree in 2015. 

The authorities clamped down on the 

protests. In March, they accused 35 men of 

plotting mass disturbances supported with 

foreign funding, and hinted that these were 

linked to the demonstrations. The arrests 

were widely televised; by July, all men had 

been released.

The rapprochement between Belarus and 

its western neighbours continued. In July, the 

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was held in 

Minsk, the capital.

DEATH PENALTY

In April, Siarhei Vostrykau, who had been on 

death row since May 2016, was executed. 

Homel Regional Court received confirmation 

of his execution on 29 April. The last letter 

his mother received from him was dated 13 

April.

Five men remained on death row. They 

included Aliaksei Mikhalenya, whose 

sentence on 17 March was upheld by the 

Supreme Court on 30 June; Ihar Hershankou 

and Siamion Berazhnoy, both sentenced on 

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