Bangladesh: End Legal Harassment of Labor Leaders

Investigate Allegations of Torture of Labor Activists 

Humqan Rights Watch, May 3, 2011

Bangladesh’s international reputation is at risk when prosecutors pursue such serious charges against labor activists without making the evidence public. With the charges against these men and the deregistering of their organization there is a strong appearance that the authorities are targeting the Center for Worker Solidarity.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) – The Bangladesh government should end the legal harassment of Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity leaders and staff and instruct its NGO Affairs Bureau to re-register the organization, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.

Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) leaders Kalpona Akhter and Babul Akhter and staff member Aminul Islam are facing a wide range of criminal charges including attempted murder, criminal intimidation, violence against civil servants, mischief causing damage, and violation of the Explosive Substances Act of 1908 in ten cases arising from violence related to labor unrest in June and July 2010. Some of the charges could lead to the death penalty.

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