New York/Dhaka, Dec 24: A group of US lawmakers has expressed concern over the total ban on the Awami League party of Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina ahead of elections scheduled in the country early next year.
The party was officially disbanded on May 12 by the Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
In a letter sent to Yunus on Tuesday, the lawmakers said that the Bangladeshi people deserve to choose an elected government through a free and fair election, calling on him to ensure “inclusive elections”.
Yunus’ press secretary Shafiqul Alam on Wednesday said he was not aware of the letter but said the interim government’s stance regarding the Awami League remained unchanged.
“I have not personally seen the letter and am not aware of the matter yet. However, the government’s position on the Awami League remains firm,” he said when asked for comments on the letter at a press briefing.
Alam added, “Since its activities are banned and its registration as a political party has been cancelled by the Election Commission, Awami League will not be able to contest this election”.
The letter was signed by Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Representative Gregory Meeks, Chairman of the Subcommittee on South and Central Asia Representative Bill Huizenga, Ranking Member Subcommittee on South and Central Asia Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Member of Congress Julie Johnson, and Representative Tom Suozzi.
It expressed concern over the total ban of the political party ahead of elections in February.
The lawmakers said that it is vital that the interim government work with parties across the political spectrum to create the conditions for free and fair elections that allow the voice of the Bangladeshi people to be expressed peacefully through the ballot box, as well as reforms that restore confidence in the integrity and nonpartisanship of state institutions.
“We are concerned that this cannot happen if the government suspends activities of political parties or again restarts the flawed International Crimes Tribunal,” they said.
They pointed out that the Department of State and many other international observers have noted that the 2018 and 2024 general elections in Bangladesh were not free or fair.
In a February fact-finding report, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights estimated that security services killed 1,400 people during the protests in July and August last year.
“Genuine accountability for these acts and others should model the values of Bangladesh’s democracy, rather than continue a cycle of retaliation,” the lawmakers said.
“Freedom of association, as well as the principle of individual rather than collective criminal responsibility, are fundamental human rights,” the lawmakers added.
“We are concerned that the decision to fully suspend the activity of any one political party, rather than focus on persons determined to have committed crimes or gross violations of human rights through the due process of law, is inconsistent with those principles,” the lawmakers said.
They expressed hope that the Yunus government or an elected successor will revisit the decision to suspend the activity of any one political party.
“Ultimately, the Bangladeshi people deserve to be able to choose an elected government in a free and fair election in which all political parties can participate so that their voices are represented,” they said.
Bangladesh has banned all activities of the Awami League under an overnight revised anti-terrorism law. Awami League and its affiliated organisations were banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2025 until Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) completed the trial of its leaders and activists.
A violent student-led street protest dubbed ‘July Uprising’ toppled Hasina’s Awami League regime on August 5, 2024, and Yunus’ subsequent interim administration disbanded the party under an executive order disqualifying it from contesting the polls, slated for February 12, 2026.
Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal last month sentenced Hasina to death, trying her in absentia for committing crimes against humanity to tame the protestors.
Critically-ill former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) emerged as the forerunner amid the disappearance of the Awami League from the political landscape, with its once key-partner Jamaat-e-Islami being its main rival.
Most Awami League leaders are on the run at home and abroad or in jail as the interim government launched a manhunt for their capture in numerous cases, mostly filed by BNP leaders. (PTI)
