Shawdesh Desk:

SAARC Human Rights Foundation today said the US State Department report on the human rights situation in Bangladesh is biased.

The report on the human rights situation in Bangladesh was released by the US State Department on March 20 based on only two organisations and individuals as sources which were unregistered and not free from political influence, said Secretary General of SAARC Human Rights Foundation, Mohammad Abed Ali, at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity.

One of those organisations misled the nation by giving the number of casualties in the Shapla Chattar rally on 5 May 2013, Abed Ali said.

Besides, the observation made in the report about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is not appropriate. Moreover, the United States raised questions about the competence and integrity of the judiciary in Bangladesh, he added.

The Secretary General of SAARC Human Rights Foundation said the US report about the Digital Security Act-2018 was not correct. “Because, in recent times, various media published articles criticizing the government, but the government did not interfere. Even the government has taken the initiative to amend the objectionable section of the law,” he added.

Former Justice Siddiqur Rahman, former Election Commissioner Brigadier General Shahadat Hossian, Vice Chancellor of Arabic University Abul Kamal Azad and Director of Election Monitoring Forum Iqbal Bahar were present at the press conference.