Awami League Slams Yunus Govt Over Weaponization Of Judiciary

Bangladesh’s Awami League party on Thursday strongly condemned the “weaponization” of the judiciary and the ongoing “state-sponsored persecution” under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in the country. 

“We condemn in the strongest terms the indictment against our party president and other leaders, as we assert that this step marks another testament to the ongoing witch hunt against our party and weaponization of the judiciary by the Yunus regime. In 11 months, people have lost their faith in the judicial system as the Yunus regime has reduced this key state organ into a means to prosecute dissenters,” read a statement issued by the party.

According to the party, top criminals and dreaded militants have been granted bail by the judiciary. The Awami League asserted that under Yunus, Bangladesh witnessed an unprecedented wave of “mob attacks on illegally detained dissenters” inside court premises in broad daylight, stripping away the fundamental rights of those framed in “motivated charges”.

“Judges are now dictated by Yunus-backed mobs inside the court. To deny legal rights of arbitrarily detained victims, the regime sponsored attacks on lawyers who seek to provide legal services, eroding fairness and transparency from the judiciary. This series of state-sponsored repression and impunity for the attackers testified that the judiciary has fallen to mob rule. Even judges and lawyers have been intimidated, bearing hallmarks of jungle rule to make the outcome of the trial a foregone conclusion,” the statement added.

The Awami League urged the global community not to fall for scores of “manufactured audio clips” prepared by the “regime enablers” targeting party President and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The content is being amplified on social media by pro-Yunus supporters, cited by prosecutors, and also accepted by judges for issuing sentences against the former regime.

“In contrast to the UN recommendation, the regime has banned our party and to justify the illegal ban, abused the judiciary, another coercive measure validated by a kangaroo court,” the party stated.

The party brought to light a series of motivated steps to turn the trial into Yunus’s state-sponsored arsenal against dissenters, including the Awami League.

“By resorting to this kangaroo court, the Yunus regime has denied July-August victims justice and legitimised abuse of the judiciary to decimate opposition, let alone stoke ongoing pogroms, including extrajudicial killings of citizens for their affiliation with the Awami League- all repressive steps that violate universal human rights. While we reiterate our commitment to a fair trial for July-August victims, we repeatedly express no confidence in the current trial process,” the party emphasised.