Bangladesh: protests after writer's death in prison, UN calls for investigation
Students attempted to march to the Interior Ministry in Dhaka on March 1, 2021 to demand action after Mushtaq Ahmed died in a high-security prison, which they called "murder", along with the repeal of the law on digital security.
AFP - MUNIR UZ ZAMAN
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
This Monday, March 1, the fourth day of demonstrations in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in reaction to the death of a writer in prison last Thursday.
A writer arrested like hundreds of others under a digital security law.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday called for their release, a transparent investigation and the revision of this law.
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A few hundred students tried to walk to the Interior Ministry on Monday, they were blocked by riot police a hundred meters from the building.
This did not prevent them from requesting the organization of a trial, following the death - which they describe as murder - of Mushtaq Ahmed in a high security prison.
The writer was arrested last May for criticizing on Facebook how Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was handling the pandemic.
It was the law on digital security, enacted in 2018, which had been used to stop it, a law which according to Amnesty International "criminalizes many forms of freedom of expression - according to the NGO since its arrival some 2,000 prosecutions were initiated, in particular against journalists.
The demonstrators on Monday also demanded its repeal;
The UN, through its High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, called for its review and the release of all those arrested.
Michelle Bachelet also said she was "worried" about the fate of Ahmed Kabir Kishore, a cartoonist arrested at the same time as Mushtaq Ahmed, and who was allegedly tortured by the police.
He kept on social networks a drawn journal of the political life of the country during the health crisis.
Justice is due to rule this Wednesday on his release on bail.
🇧🇩 #Bangladesh: @MBachelet urges the Government to ensure investigation into the death in custody of writer #MushtaqAhmed is prompt, transparent & independent.
All those detained under the Digital Security Act for #FreeSpeech must be released.
Read 👉 https://t.co/m7WiIXYEBt pic.twitter.com/XMBArz3L09
- UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) March 1, 2021
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