Dhaka: Bangladesh’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a law officially endorsing the previous Muhammad Yunus-led interim government’s order to disband the Awami League party of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“This bill concerns the banning of a genocidal, terrorist organisation. It is an amendment to the previous Anti-Terrorism Act,” Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told Parliament, without explicitly naming the Awami League.
Ahmed stated that the new law would extend the suspension of the Awami League’s registration with the Election Commission and ensure the party faces trial for its alleged role in “genocide.”
Members of the treasury bench, belonging to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), passed the bill in a voice vote as Ahmed tabled it. The law preserves the ordinance introduced by the interim government while amending the existing anti-terrorism legislation.
The Yunus government had initially amended the original Anti-Terrorism Act, allowing the government to disband any individual or organisation found to be involved in terrorist activities. Following the ordinance, the interim government issued an executive order banning the Awami League, which led Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan, and barred it from contesting elections.
The legislation prohibits the publication or printing of press statements by or on behalf of a banned party, along with propaganda through mainstream or social media. It also bans activities such as processions or public speeches in support of the party.
Opposition Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Shafikur Rahman requested additional time to review the bill, noting that lawmakers had received it only minutes earlier. “The law is sensitive, and we should be given time to read and understand it,” he said.
In response, Home Minister Ahmed pointed out that JI and their allies in the student-led National Citizen Party (NCP), which was formed last year with Yunus’ support, had launched a movement in 2024. “Based on that, the Awami League’s activities were banned under the amended Anti-Terrorism Act,” he added.
UN officials, including the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Office chief, had criticised the Yunus government for banning the Awami League, terming it a restriction on freedom of association and peaceful assembly.
Constitutional expert Swadhin Malik noted that Bangladesh is only the second country in history to ban a party that led its independence. While Malik is a vocal critic of the Awami League, he said banning the political activities of a major party was “not desirable” for a healthy democracy.
The law was passed a day after police arrested former Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Choudhury on attempted “murder charges,” marking the first detention of a prominent figure from Hasina’s ousted regime under the newly elected BNP government.
Choudhury, a three-time non-partisan speaker, had contested Parliament on an Awami League ticket. Analysts suggest her arrest could be part of an effort to prevent the party from regrouping with prominent figures who have clean political images. She had remained out of public view since the violent student-led street protest, known as the “July Uprising,” which toppled the Hasina-led Awami League government in 2024.
Following her ouster, Hasina fled to India. Earlier, a special Bangladeshi tribunal controversially handed down a death sentence to Hasina in absentia for crimes against humanity related to her attempts to suppress the uprising.
With PTI inputs