Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Nearly 300 people have been killed in political violence in Bangladesh since the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year, rights group Odhikar said on Sunday. In its latest report, Odhikar said 281 deaths were linked to political clashes between August 2024 and September 2025, with 40 extrajudicial killings and 153 lynchings during the same period.
Director ASM Nasiruddin Elan told journalists that human rights conditions had “improved since Hasina’s fall,” but impunity and custodial abuses persisted. “Innocent people fall prey to atrocities for alleged ties to the banned Awami League,” he said.
The report accused major political forces, including the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, of involvement in extortion and violence. It also said policing remained inefficient, adding, “The police largely became dysfunctional and lost morale after Hasina fell.”
Neither the interim government nor any political party has yet responded to the findings.