UN says Sheikh Hasina’s repression may be a crime against humanity

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government have tried to cling to power using systematically, deadly violence against protesters, which may be “crimes against humanity,” the UN said.

UN Human Right Investigators have accused the overthrown government A brutal response to the mass opposition last year, saying that up to 1400 people had been killed, most of all, of the security forces.

The UN team said “an official policy of attacking and forcible suppression of anti -government protesters” was directed by political leaders and senior security officers.

Hasina, who has been in service for 15 years, fled a helicopter in India shortly before the crowds stormed her residence last August.

The unrest began as protests led by students against job quotas in public service and escalated throughout the country to overthrow Hasina and her Awami League party after a deadly police repression. Thousands were injured in the worst violence that Bangladesh watched after his war of independence in 1971.

The findings of UN investigators show the then government, including Sheikh Hasina, “were aware and participated in very serious crimes,” UN Human Rights Volker Turk told a press conference in Geneva.

“Among our key findings, there are reasonable reasons to believe that employees of the former government, his security and intelligence apparatus, together with violent elements related to the former ruling party, have committed serious and systematic violations of human rights,” said G – D H Turk.

UN investigators document the shooting in the point range of some protesters, deliberate mutilation of other, arbitrary arrests and torture.

The children were also directed – the report estimates that up to 13% of 1400 people killed between July 1 and August 15 are children.

“The brutal response was calculated and a well-coordinated strategy by the former government to hold power to the mass opposition,” Mr. Turk said.

He said the evidence gathered from his office had painted “a disturbing picture of violent violence and directed murder.”

“There are reasonable reasons to believe in hundreds of out -of -court murders, extensive arrest arrests and detainees and torture, were committed with the knowledge, coordination and management of political leadership and senior security officials as part of the protest suppression strategy.”

The report was requested by Bangladesh viewer leader, Mohammed Yunus, who said he and his temporary government remain “Engaged to turn Bangladesh into a country where all his people can live in security and dignity“.

The total number of deaths given by the UN team is far higher than 834, appreciated by its government.

The UN team, which compiled the report, included investigators in human rights, a forensic doctor and a weapons expert. Their discoveries are based mainly on more than 230 interviews with survivors, witnesses and others. They are gaining access to files, photos, videos and other materials.

“Former senior officials directly involved in the processing of protests and other internal sources describe how former Prime Minister and other senior officials directed and led a series of large-scale operations in which security and intelligence forces shot and killed protesters or arrested and arrested them, ”the report says.

He “found models of security forces intentionally and inadmissible killing or mutilation of protesters, including incidents where people were shot in the point range.”

While the report attributes the greater part of the violence of government security forces, it also raises concerns about attacks against those who are perceived as supporters of the former government and against some religious and ethnic groups.

They also need to be investigated, said the UN Human Rights Service.