The Global Center for Democratic Governance (GCDG) has documented 47 deaths due to extrajudicial execution, including mob lynching and custodial deaths, since September 8, 2024, as reported in the media.
Human rights observers suspect that the actual number is significantly higher.
Every instance of extrajudicial killing must be subject to an impartial investigation. Those responsible, regardless of rank or status, must face justice. The culture of impunity must end, the GCDG said in a statement, which contains details of the victims.
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โWe urgently call upon national and international human rights organisations and all global institutions committed to justice to launch independent inquiries and bring the perpetrators to account. Silence is complicity. It is time for the world to act.โ
The GCDG said extrajudicial killings have become disturbingly normalised in Bangladesh, which is ruled by an authoritarian and undemocratic regime.
โOver its 54-year history, every government in Bangladesh, regardless of political affiliation, has faced credible accusations of extrajudicial executions. What should shock the conscience of any democratic society has instead become a tragic pattern, repeated and sustained across decades,โ it said.
After the August 5 changeover through a major political upheaval, an unelected and constitutionally controversial administration, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, was installed. This appointment sparked hope, and many believed that the long-standing culture of lawless state violence would finally come to an end. That hope is now fading fast, the rights body said.
With the government exercising near-total control over the press, many of these cases are underreported or go entirely unreported. Journalists who dare to investigate or publish such stories face grave consequences: arrests, job losses, revocation of press accreditation, and violent attacks on newsrooms.
Some reports are later removed under pressure, the statement said, adding that the Yunus-led administration is unelected and operates without accountability to the people. As such, these serious allegations are either ignored or dismissed outright.
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