The Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) has welcomed the resolution adopted unanimously by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Governing Council at its 216th session in Geneva on October 23, 2025, condemning alleged human rights violations, intimidation, arbitrary arrests, inhumane detention conditions, and lack of due process in the cases of six detained parliamentarians.
The RRAG is among the complainants who brought attention to the arrest and detention of former parliamentarians Saber Chowdhury, Fazle Karim Chowdhury, Habibe Millat, Asaduzzaman Noor, Mosharraf Hossain, and Muhammad Faruk Khan, whose cases formed the basis of the IPU’s resolution.
Over 100 former parliamentarians, all affiliated with the Awami League, are currently detained in Bangladesh and facing multiple criminal cases, while parliamentarian Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun died in custody on September 29, 2025.
The IPU reported that its independent trial observer, assigned to monitor the legal proceedings in these cases, was unable to travel to Bangladesh on two separate occasions due to delays in visa issuance. It further noted that repeated requests for assistance in facilitating visa approvals and logistical preparations for an IPU delegation’s visit to Bangladesh have so far gone unanswered.
“This denial of visas on time to the IPU trial observers and an IPU delegation to Bangladesh shows that interim government of Bangladesh, led by Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, is trying the jailed former parliamentarians in Kangaroo Courts and has gross human rights violations to hide,” Suhas Chakma, Director of the RRAG, stated.
The IPU voiced serious concern over the continued detention of Fazle Karim Chowdhury, Asaduzzaman Noor, Mosharraf Hossain, and Muhammad Faruk Khan, citing alarming reports of inhumane detention conditions and their detrimental impact on the detainees’ health.
The IPU voiced grave concern over the continued detention of Fazle Karim Chowdhury, Asaduzzaman Noor, Mosharraf Hossain, and Muhammad Faruk Khan amid reports of inhumane conditions and their adverse impact on the detainees’ health. It also raised alarm over alleged violations of fair trial rights, the severity of charges that may include the death penalty, and claims that the criminal cases against former Awami League members are politically motivated.
The IPU reaffirmed its intention to send a trial observer to monitor the upcoming court proceedings and to dispatch a delegation to Bangladesh as soon as possible to engage with legislative, executive, and judicial authorities, prison officials, civil society groups, and other relevant stakeholders to gather information on the situation of the six former parliamentarians.
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“The resolution of the IPU calls for effective actions by the international community who are blindly supporting the interim government in the hope that Nobel Laureate Yunus has respect for the rule of law and democracy. Dr Yunus has no respect for the rule of law, turned the judiciary into Kangaroo courts and the case is building up for stripping him of the Nobel prize,” Chakma added.
