Citizen Initiative expresses grave concern over the recent actions of Doughty Street Chambers, whose Barristers, Steven Sacha Powles KC and Alex Tinsley, have submitted a request to the UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic International Order on behalf of Sheikh Hasina and the Bangladesh Awami League (BAL), challenging the party’s lawful ban in Bangladesh.

CI believes this lobbying effort deliberately ignores the Awami League’s decades of authoritarian rule, systemic human rights abuses, and the atrocities committed during the July-August 2024 massacre, in which more than a thousand civilians were killed and around thirty thousand were injured during the people’s uprising. It is deeply troubling that a law firm of international repute is advocating for a party whose leadership is implicated in crimes against humanity, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and systemic electoral fraud for the last fifteen years.

We demand that

The Interim Government of Bangladesh launch an immediate investigation into the source of funding for this legal lobbying campaign by BAL.

The Government of Bangladesh formally raise with India the matter of Sheikh Hasina’s political and lobbying activities while in exile under Indian protection.

The UN Special Rapporteurs be fully briefed on the Awami League’s crimes, including the 24 July massacre, suppression of press freedom, communal violence against minorities, and systemic corruption.

The struggle of the Bangladeshi people against fascism and for a democratic order cannot be undermined by selective human rights narratives designed to protect perpetrators. Citizen Initiative calls on the international community to stand with the victims, not with their oppressors.

Taib Ahmed

Secretary, Citizen Initiative

PhD Candidate & Instructor, Colorado State University

Dr. Hasan Mahmud

Chairman, Citizen Initiative

Assistant Professor, Northwestern University in Qatar