CONFIDENTIAL
BANGLADESH
Report by British High Commission Dacca
Right No.
(i)
Rating suggested by Post
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
Successive governments have for many years imprisoned people with- out trial and the present regime still carries on this practice. The precise numbers of those in detention at any one time are diffi- cult to determine but since large batches of 1,900 or so have been released from time to time, the total number detained could easily be over 5,000 or 0.006 per cent of the total population. Imprisonment without trial will continue to be a risk in Bangladesh.
There is no evidence that sophisti- cated methods of torture are used but it is known that some detainees are beaten up, particularly those arrested for petty crimes.
Comment by South Asian Dept
We would suggest a rating of 3. The position is worse in Bangladesh than in Pakistan (for which Islama- bad suggested a rating of 2).
Slavery does not exist.
In the course of this year there has been a revival of the press, mostly of party affiliated papers suppressed by Mujib, but individuals and the news media are still subject to controls which are harsh by UK
standards. The regime does not per- mit free expressions of unfavourable opinion.
There are two parallel systems of justice. Martial law courts deal with anti-State offences and there is no appeal against their judge- ments. These courts are an arm of the executive and in no meaningful sense independent but they do make a conscious effort to follow normal
CONFIDENTIAL
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8
2
O
4
4