MASS ARRESTS IN BANGLADESH, 32,000 NETTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DHAKA 000680 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2018 TAGS: KDEM PGOV PHUM PREL BG SUBJECT: MASS ARRESTS IN BANGLADESH, 32,000 NETTED Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) SUMMARY ======== ¶1. (C) Between May 28 and June 15 the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) arrested nearly 32,000 individuals in a nationwide crackdown, reportedly to improve the law and order situation in the country. Civil society groups and political parties have criticized the drive. Media reports suggest the GOB,s initiative is expected to last until June 30. The Home Secretary privately disavowed any political motive for the arrests, claiming most of the individuals were facing criminal charges and only a small fraction were political activists or brought into custody under the Emergency Powers Rules. Media and local human rights groups tell a different story however, suggesting a campaign of intimidation against Bangladesh's two main political parties intended both to bring them back to the negotiating table and to thwart large scale political demonstrations using "rent-a-crowds." GOB: MOST ARRESTED ARE CRIMINALS ================================ ¶2. (C) According to local media reports, authorities had arrested 31,829 people as of June 15. Confirming what we had heard elsewhere, the Home Secretary told the DCM earlier that week that the numbers of people arrested did not greatly exceed arrests for the same period last year. Home Affairs Adviser M.A. Matin told the media that police had arrested approximately 24,000 people between May 29 and June 12, up from 19,000 during the same period last year. While initial reports indicated most of the arrests were occurring in localities around Bangladesh, it now appears that as many as 75 percent of the arrests are taking place in Dhaka, according to media contacts. ¶3. (C) Home Secretary Abdul Karim told the DCM that virtually all those detained were criminals arrested based on existing warrants; the authorities had arrested fewer than 191 people under Emergency Power Rules. (NOTE: Individuals arrested under Emergency Power Rules (EPR) are denied bail. END NOTE.) And even fewer of those arrested had ties to political parties, according to Karim, who added that 35 of those arrested were affiliated with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP),while 36 had Awami League ties. Karim added that authorities arrested these party figures on the basis of criminal charges. ¶4. (C) Despite the large number of arrests, the prison population nationwide has not increased appreciably. In fact, it has remained steady at just under 87,000, according to the Inspector General of Police responsible for the nation's prisons. Both the Home Secretary and Home Adviser said that many of those arrested had been released on bail and that approximately 1,200 prisoners were being released every day. The GOB recently announced it would begin to parole certain prisoners who had served at least 50 percent of their sentence, as a means of alleviating overcrowding in Bangladesh's prisons. CIVIL SOCIETY DISPUTES GOB CLAIMS ================================= ¶5. (C) Despite GOB statements, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and political parties allege grassroots political activists and local officials are being rounded up along with extremists and common criminals. Early in June, representatives from the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute (NDI),which implements USG-funded programs with political parties in Bangladesh, reported authorities had arrested over 350 people with ties to the BNP or Awami League in districts outside of Dhaka. According to NDI, their contacts in all the parties were fearful that more party activists would be detained. ¶6. (C) Human rights groups dispute GOB statements that the arrests are part of the normal cycle of the criminal justice system. Unable to account for why the prison population has not increased significantly, human rights activists claimed, in meetings with PolOff, a number of individuals might be held in local police jails or facilities run by Bangladesh's intelligence services. The activists also speculated that the police may be arresting some people for the purposes of intimidation and releasing them within 24 hours on the payment of bribes. Several sources stated the police were picking up individuals under preventive detention laws such as the Special Powers Act of 1974 and charging them by attaching their names to existing cases. According to some DHAKA 00000680 002.2 OF 002 NGO's, authorities added the names of some of those arrested to the open cases pending against those accused of participating in the August 2007 riots. (NOTE: Bangladesh law permits the filing of cases against unnamed defendants, which allows authorities to add individuals to the cases even after they have been filed. END NOTE.) COMMENT ======= ¶7. (C) Despite GOB claims that recent arrest levels are normal, the government's own figures indicate a 25 percent increase in arrests over the last two weeks. The law and order drive could be a shot across the bow of the two main political parties; the GOB launched the drive shortly after the two parties announced their refusal to participate in the Caretaker Government's political dialogue. There is also speculation that many of the detained "political activists" are in some cases the petty gangsters and thugs hired by the parties to organize the often-violent party protests that were a regular part of Bangladesh's political landscape in the past. Mission Dhaka has registered concern about the crackdown at the highest levels of government; we continue to urge the GOB to adhere to international standards of human rights and due process with regard to the arrest and incarceration of all those arrested, including those detained in the current drive. Moriarty