Hasina and her party, the Awami League, were in power for 15 years, from 2009 to 2024.693 The party relied on a historical association with Bangladesh’s independence movement during the 1971 independence war,694 but its government administration became increasingly authoritarian,695 with policies favouring its allies.696 The violent governmental crackdown on the student protests in July–August 2024, which caused many deaths and injuries to protesters, ‘shattered’ the party’s public image,697 and party affiliates have been reportedly facing ‘widespread hostility’,698 including retaliatory violence.699
On 23 October 2024, the interim government banned the Awami League’s student wing Chhatra League under the Anti-Terrorism Act700 and later on 12 May 2025 it also banned all activities of the Awami League.701 The interim government has furthermore taken steps to remove references to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family by altering school textbooks,702 renaming several institutions703 (including public hospitals,704 universities,705 and military institutions706), changing banknotes with Rahman’s portrait707 and abolishing eight national holidays,708 including 15 August (national mourning day for the assassination of Rahman and most of his family).709
Many Awami League top officials face criminal charges at the ICT-BD and ordinary criminal courts,710 and there have been reports of Awami League affiliates being arbitrarily arrested.711 More information on criminal charges brought against Awami League officials and supporters is available in section 2.4 Accountability efforts and arrests. Awami League members have been blamed for the increase in violent crime since the fall of the former government,712 including by the interim government.713 ‘Operation Devil Hunt’, launched in February 2025 to curb violent crime, has led to over 12 000 arrests,714 and some sources stated that many of those arrested were Awami League members.715 In April–May 2025, over 48 000 people were arrested in one month according to police data, and meanwhile the Daily Star reported on an increase in arrests of Awami League members as the interim government officially banned all activities of the organisation in May 2025. Among those arrested were activists as well as party leaders and former ministers of parliament.716 Custodial deaths of Awami League members have also been reported,717 including the death of four Awami League leaders in Bogura jail in November–December 2024.718 On 8 May 2025, the Awami League claimed that 21 of their leaders and activists had died in custody.719 These figures could not be corroborated within the time constraints of drafting this report.
During the protests in July–August 2024, Awami League officials and supporters faced retaliatory violence in clashes with protesters.720 According to the UN OHCHR, the ‘most serious incidents’ took place from 4 August 2024 and onwards (with their reporting period ending on 15 August 2024), especially in the aftermath of Hasina’s flight to India on 5 August 2024.721 Awami League officials and supporters were beaten to death by crowds, and in some cases attacked and stabbed to death.722 According to Prothom Alo, 87 Awami League members and affiliates were killed in the period 4–6 August 2024, out of 326 people killed in total.723 In contrast, International Crisis Group reported on estimates of 250 people being killed in the slightly longer period 5–11 August 2024, and that most were Awami League members.724 Crowds also vandalised, looted and torched government offices, official residences, homes and businesses belonging to Awami Leage leaders and government officials,725 ‘or their close family members’ as reported by UN OHCHR.726 UN OHCHR documented one case of sexual violence against a female Chhatra League member, including sexual harassment and rape. Furthermore, she was reportedly denied healthcare due to her political affiliation. UN OHCHR believed that ‘substantially more cases of sexual violence’ occurred than what they could document in the period 1 July–15 August 2024.727
During a debate organised by International Crisis Group in November 2024, Thomas Kean, analyst with International Crisis Group, and Zafar Sobhan, journalist and political analyst, stated that, despite some attacks, there had been no major purges of Awami League supporters or others associated with the previous government since its downfall. Sobhan noted that dozens had been incarcerated and that hundreds were in hiding, but thousands still remained in the country – although they kept a low profile.728 Other sources also reported on Awami League leaders and prominent supporters living in hiding,729 and on many having escaped the country or trying to leave730 to avoid reprisals.731
The International Crisis Group later reported that BNP made efforts to control their rank-and-file in the immediate aftermath of the former government’s downfall and that many families have members on ‘both sides of the political divides’ which might explain why revenge killings were not more extensive.732 UN OHCHR reported that some retaliatory attacks were carried out during the protests and their aftermath by members of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, with overlapping motives such as political revenge, religious and ethnic discrimination, personal disputes and local communal conflicts. UN OHCHR however did not find any information supporting claims that the top leadership orchestrated such violence.733 They noted that reports of revenge violence had continued after 15 August 2024.734
Human Rights Watch stated that ‘[t]he authorities have failed to protect individuals affiliated with the Awami League from attacks’.735 Violent mobs have attacked Awami League leaders and activists at court hearings736 and a former minister of parliament was attacked by a mob upon his release from jail after being granted bail.737
In January–April 2025, ASK recorded the following instances of political violence:
-
23 incidents involving the Awami League and the BNP, leaving 4 dead and 329 injured;
-
5 incidents involving student wings of the Awami League and other parties, injuring 26 people;
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5 internal clashes of the Awami League and affiliated branches, leaving 3 dead and 66 injured.738
Odikhar also recorded instances of intra-party violence, documenting six incidents involving the Awami League in the period January–March 2025, leaving 4 dead and 26 injured.739
Under the former administration, some Awami League leaders and government officials exploited their power position to engage in crime such as land grabbing and embezzling government assets,740 while corruption was institutionalised741 and endemic.742 According to TIB, reporting in November 2024, there were complaints of ‘persistent influence’ of the former government’s ‘allies’ on the bureaucracy,743 and Odikhar reported in May 2025 that criminal elements were still ‘influential in politics’ and that violence and extortion were continuing.744 During its 15 years in power, the Awami League politicised state institutions,745 which ‘permeated the entire security sector’,746 with allegations of actors within law enforcement and other security agencies engaging in human rights abuse, sometimes on the order of top government officials.747 According to Netra News referring to local media, the party’s student wing, the Chhatra League, allegedly engaged in violent acts, rape and killings of other students during the Awami Leagues’ years in power. Members engaging in such crime were allegedly awarded by receiving more senior roles and better opportunities.748 The Chhatra League and security forces also violently cracked down on protesters during the July–August 2024, leading to deaths and injuries.749 More information is available in Annex 1: Timeline of the protests in July–August 2024, 2.4. Accountability efforts and arrests and 3.1.2. Involvement in human rights abuse.
Journalists and media outlets perceived as favouring the Awami League and the former government have also been targeted in violent acts,750 as well as Hindus.751 More information is available in 8.3. Actors of civil society and the media and 8.2. Ethnic and religious minorities.
- 693
Al Jazeera, Timeline: The rise and fall of Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, 5 August 2024, url
- 694
Diplomat (The), The Bangladesh Awami League: From Dominance to a Legitimacy Crisis, 7 February 2025, url
- 695
HRW, World Report 2025: Bangladesh, 16 January 2025, url; East Asia Forum, Bangladesh’s authoritarian shift, 18 January 2020, url
- 696
Daily Star (The), Crony capitalism stifled investment and growth in Bangladesh, 6 November 2024, url
- 697
Diplomat (The), The Bangladesh Awami League: From Dominance to a Legitimacy Crisis, 7 February 2025, url
- 698
Al Jazeera, Why a Bangladesh mob burned down home of independence icon Mujibur Rahman, 7 February 2025, url
- 699
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, para. 212
- 700
Reuters, Bangladesh bans student wing of ousted Sheikh Hasina's party, 24 October 2024, url
- 701
DW, Bangladesh: What does the ban of Sheikh Hasina's party mean?, 12 May 2025, url
- 702
Benar News, Bangladesh rewrites history, leaves millions of schoolchildren without textbooks, 17 January 2025, url; Daily Star (The), New textbooks will say Ziaur Rahman declared independence, 1 January 2025, url
- 703
TIB, ‘New Bangladesh’, Tracking the First 100 Days after the Fall of the Authoritarian Regime, 18 November 2024, url, pp. 4 – 5
- 704
Business Standard (The), 14 govt hospitals renamed by removing names of Sheikh Mujib, Hasina, family, 4 November 2024, url
- 705
Business Standard (The), Govt renames 13 universities, removes Sheikh family honorifics, 16 January 2025, url
- 706
Bdnews24.com, Bangladesh changes eight military facility names, 16 more under review, 9 March 2025, url
- 707
Business Standard (The), BB to issue banknotes with new designs in April-May, 22 February 2025, url
- 708
Prothom Alo, 8 national days including 7 March, 15 August to be cancelled, 16 October 2024, url
- 709
Al Jazeera, Bangladesh protesters, vowing to ‘guard revolution’, beat Hasina supporters, 15 August 2024, url; Daily Star (The) 8 nat’l days including March 7 cancelled, 17 October 2024, url
- 710
New Age, Bangladesh’s ICT asks jail authorities to produce 14 politicians, 6 ex-security officials over crimes against humanity, 17 October 2024, url
- 711
HRW, After the Monsoon Revolution, 27 January 2025, url
- 712
Odhikar, Quarterly Human Rights Report, January–March 2025, 14 May 2025, url, para. 23
- 713
Print (The), From fighting for freedom to several rape allegations & now a ban. All about Bangladesh Chhatra League, 24 October 2024, url; Prothom Alo, Awami League's backers trying to destabilise the country, 24 February 2025, url
- 714
Business Standard (The), 569 more held under 'Operation Devil Hunt', 1 March 2025, url
- 715
DW, Bangladesh: Can interim government contain latest unrest?, 11 February 2025, url; David Bergman [X], posted on: 9 February 2025, url; Benar News, Awami League, opposition activists among hundreds swept up in new Bangladesh crackdown, 10 February 2025, url
- 716
Daily Star (The), Over 48,400 arrested in one month, 20 May 2025, url
- 717
Daily Star (The), Savar AL leader dies in jail, 14 February 2025, url; Daily Star (The), Fifth AL leader dies in Bogura jail custody, 12 March 2025, url; Bangladesh Awami League, Call for Independent Investigation into Deaths of 21 Awami League Leaders and Activists in Custody, 8 May 2025, url
- 718
Daily Star (The), Four AL leader died in Bogura jail custody in last one month, 10 December 2024, url; Prothom Alo, Fourth AL leader dies of ‘heart attack’ in Bogura prison in 29 days, 10 December 2024, url
- 719
Bangladesh Awami League, Call for Independent Investigation into Deaths of 21 Awami League Leaders and Activists in Custody, 8 May 2025, url
- 720
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, para. 212; Daily Star (The), At least 100 injured as BCL activists attack protesters, 15 July 2024, url; AFP, 100 injured as Bangladesh’s student groups clash over quotas, 16 July 2024, url; Dhaka Tribune, Dorm rooms of DU Chhatra League president, general secretary vandalized, 17 July 2024, url
- 721
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, para. 212
- 722
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, paras. 212, 218
- 723
Prothom Alo, 326 killed in 4-6 August, 12 August 2024, url
- 724
International Crisis Group, A New Era in Bangladesh? The First Hundred Days of Reform, 14 November 2024, url
- 725
Prothom Alo, Houses of ministers, MPs attacked, torched, 5 August 2024, url; Daily Star (The), Houses of 2 ministers, 9 MPs come under attack, 5 August 2024, url
- 726
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, para. 219
- 727
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, para. 220
- 728
International Crisis Group [YouTube], posted on: 5 November 2024, url
- 729
Odhikar, Quarterly Human Rights Report, January–March 2025, 14 May 2025, url, para. 23; Al Jazeera, Bangladesh’s new outcasts: Students from ex-PM Hasina’s party now in hiding, 27 October 2024, url; Print (The), Bangladesh can’t afford another coup. Yunus govt must not trust all army officers with power, 1 October 2024, url
- 730
Dhaka Tribune, Ex-minister Narayan Chandra Chanda detained while fleeing to India, 6 October 2024, url; Business Standard (The), Ex-land minister Narayan Chandra Chanda arrested, 7 October 2024, url; Dhaka Tribune, Ex-minister Faruk Khan arrested, 15 October 2024, url; Bdnews24.com, Former Awami League
- 731
VOA, Fearing reprisals, Hasina’s supporters flee Bangladesh, 7 September 2024, url; Odhikar, Quarterly Human Rights Report, January–March 2025, 14 May 2025, url, para. 8
- 732
International Crisis Group, A New Era in Bangladesh? The First Hundred Days of Reform, 14 November 2024, url
- 733
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, paras. 301–303
- 734
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, para. 224
- 735
HRW, After the Monsoon Revolution, 27 January 2025, url
- 736
TIB, ‘New Bangladesh’, Tracking the First 100 Days after the Fall of the Authoritarian Regime, 18 November 2024, url, p. 7
- 737
Daily Star (The), Mob attacks ex-AL MP Aziz at jail gate, 9 April 2025, url
- 738
ASK, Political Violence January–April 2025, [2025], url
- 739
Odhikar, Quarterly Human Rights Report, January–March 2025, 14 May 2025, url, para. 30
- 740
Prothom Alo, Firoz had absolute control over Bauphal, 8 December 2024, url; Prothom Alo, Dhirendra Debnath Shambhu grabbed commission from all projects, 13 November 2024, url
- 741
Daily Star (The), Awami League’s legacy of corruption should serve as a cautionary tale, 5 December 2024, url; TIB, Corruption Is Pervasive in Service Sectors, According to the TIB National Household Survey 2023, 4 December 2024, url
- 742
Daily Star (The), Awami League’s legacy of corruption should serve as a cautionary tale, 5 December 2024, url; Freedom House, Bangladesh 2023, 2024, url
- 743
TIB, ‘New Bangladesh’, Tracking the First 100 Days after the Fall of the Authoritarian Regime, 18 November 2024, url, p. 6
- 744
Odhikar, Quarterly Human Rights Report, January–March 2025, 14 May 2025, url, para. 9
- 745
Odhikar, Quarterly Human Rights Report, January–March 2025, 14 May 2025, url, para. 1; UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, para. 315
- 746
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, para. 315
- 747
DW, 'Death squad': Inside Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion, 4 March 2023, url; HRW, After the Monsoon Revolution, 27 January 2025, url
- 748
Netra News, Let a future Bangladesh be free of Chhatra League, 24 July 2024, url
- 749
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, p. iii, para. 69
- 750
UN OHCHR, Human Rights Violations and Abuses Related to the Protests of July and August 2024 in Bangladesh, 12 February 2025, url, para. 225
- 751
BBC News, 'There is no law and order. And Hindus are being targeted again', 6 August 2024, url