Armed attacks led by Awami League MPs during the July-August movement

The anti-discrimination student movement that took place in July-August last year was also led by members of parliament (MPs) of the then Awami League government, who carried out armed attacks on protesters. This information was given in a fact-finding report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released today, Wednesday, after investigating the incidents of human rights violations and torture that occurred during the movement.

The report said that in mid-July, the former government and the Awami League mobilized armed activists. They gradually resorted to violence to suppress the movement and committed serious human rights violations. Hundreds of people were killed extrajudicially, thousands were seriously injured through the use of unlawful force. There were widespread arbitrary arrests, detentions and torture.

It said that as the protests continued, armed Awami League activists continued to attack protesters jointly with or in collaboration with state security forces. In some cases, members of parliament and many government officials led the attacks.

The UN says that the Awami League government attacked the protesters to retain power, and that the reason for the serious human rights violations and oppression committed by the security forces and Awami League armed workers between July 15 and August 5 was to retain power at any cost. They tried to suppress the protests in a planned and illegal manner.

The report says that the police, paramilitary, military, intelligence forces and various branches of the Awami League, under the coordination and direction of the previous government and the political leadership of the Awami League, jointly carried out serious human rights violations and oppression. Therefore, there is reasonable reason to believe that the political leadership of the time was directly involved in these human rights violations.

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