Six members of Bangladesh’s largest opposition party have died in prison in two weeks, their relatives and leaders of the party said. The six men were among tens of thousands of leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, or BNP, who were arrested in a crackdown on the opposition ahead of the next general elections, to be held on January 7.
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told VOA that party leaders and activists are facing an “inhuman level of torture” after being picked up by police.
“They are being tortured in the custody of police and while in jail, after being arrested in false politically motivated cases. After torture leaves them wounded, in most cases they are denied medical care and some of them are dying in custody,” Rizvi said.
However, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal rejected the allegation of torture of the opposition activists in custody. “None is tortured in police custody or jail. Everyone in jail receives proper medical treatment following jail rules. The BNP claims of torture [are intended] to get sympathy and political advantage,” Kamal told local reporters.
The BNP has been demonstrating across the country for months, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the installation of an election-time neutral caretaker government which, the opposition party said, would ensure a free and fair election.
Following a massive opposition rally in Dhaka on October 28, the government launched a crackdown targeting the BNP leaders and activists, accusing them of resorting to violence.
According to the BNP, over 21,000 of its activists — including its entire leadership — have been arrested since the October 28 rally. Some activists are badly wounded during torture in police custody before being sent to jail custody, Dr. Mohammed Rafiqul Islam, health affairs secretary of the BNP, told VOA.
“The activists report their illnesses to the prison authorities and beg for the arrangement of medical treatment. The prison authorities often do not allow the opposition political activists access to proper medical care, many of the arrested activists and their relatives told us,” said Islam, a urologist.
