Bangladesh denounces US sanctions against RAB, security chief | Human Rights News

Seven people, including the head of the Bangladesh National Police, have been punished by the Biden administration for alleged human rights violations.

Bangladesh on Saturday called on the US ambassador to Washington to protest sanctions against its top security officials, including seven people, including the country’s national police chief, after the Biden administration accused him of human rights violations.

Washington imposed sanctions Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and accused of participating in it hundreds of disappearances and nearly 600 extrajudicial killings since 2018.

Seven current or former officers of the Rapid Action Battalion were also punished. Among them is Benazir Ahmed, the first RAB leader and now the national leader of more than 200,000 police teams in the South Asian country.

“We are committed to putting human rights at the heart of our foreign policy, and we reaffirm our commitment to using and using the right tools and authorities to promote and promote responsibility for human rights violations and violations,” said Secretary of State Antony Blink.

Bangladeshi officials quickly denounced the move, and Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen called on the U.S. ambassador in response to the decision to “convey Dhaka’s grief,” his ministry said.

“He regretted that the US had decided to weaken a government agency that was at the forefront of the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and other transnational crimes that were considered a shared priority with US administrations,” he said in a statement.

One of the convicts, KM Azad, deputy head of the RAB, defended the operations of the forces, saying that he had never violated human rights.

“If the removal of a criminal under the law is a violation of human rights, then we have no objection to violating these human rights in the interest of the country,” he said.

‘Perfect move’

Asaduzzaman Khan, the country’s interior minister, also commented on the move, saying that human rights violations are always occurring. investigate.

“If any human rights violations are reported, the investigation is conducted by magistrates. Legal action is being taken here if a government agency violates human rights, ”Khan told reporters in Dhaka.

“The United States has not just imposed sanctions. They did it based on excessive news. Maintaining law and order is a difficult challenge in Bangladesh, “he said.

Meanwhile, local rights activists welcomed the measures.

“It simply came to our notice then. But more officers involved in the kidnappings and forced disappearances should be included, ”said Sanjida Islam, the organizer of Mayer Daak, which represents the families of the victims.

He said most Bangladeshi security agencies were involved in forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, but the RAB was the main culprit and was involved in the kidnapping and disappearance of his brother in 2013.

The RAB was founded in 2004 in a country of 169 million people to fight extremism and serious crime.

But he has been embroiled in controversy and has been charged with serious human rights abuses, including shootings to kill alleged criminals.

In January 2017, a Bangladeshi court sentenced 26 people to death, including 16 RAB agents, after pleading guilty to kidnapping and killing seven people in the central city of Narayanganj.