‘Over 120 Awami supporters murdered under Yunus govt’

New Delhi, June 6: The Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) in a report, ‘Bangladesh: Organised murder for membership to the Awami League and its affiliate organisations’, has stated that at least 123 members of the Awami League and its affiliate organisations were victims of targeted murder under the regime of Dr Muhammad Yunus.

The report, which was released on Friday, stated that the victims include at least 41 Awami League members who were hacked to death in Taliban style, while 21 others were killed in the custody of the interim government.

“These murders of the Awami League members are just the tip of the iceberg, as not all the murders of the Awami League members were reported in the local media, and further, the RRAG was not able to monitor the local media. It is, however, clear that even children, women, the mentally unstable, and the maimed were not spared,” said Suhas Chakma, Director of the RRAG.

Citing specific cases, the RRAG stated, on December 17, 2024, the alleged supporters of Yunus murdered Mohammed Masud Rana and 12-year-old Mohd Rian, a class five student at Nachol, Chapaiganj for merely writing “Joy Bangla slogan on their Facebook page five months before the Students Movement. On December 5, 2024, Arina Begum was hacked to death while offering Namaaz just because her son was the President of the Chhatra League of Kajldighi Kaliaganj Union and had been living in hiding.

“The shrill political rhetoric by the political opponents, whether Jamaat-I-Islami, Bangladesh National Party, the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement and the top leadership of the Interim Government headed by Dr Mohammed Yunus, effectively encouraged the vengeance against the Awami League. The banning of the Chhatra League and subsequently the Awami League itself justified these acts of vendetta with impunity,” said Chakma.