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partisan behaviour that Bangladeshis had to endure under Sheikh Hasina, whether it is stuffing the prisons with political opponents or shutting down peaceful dissent,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

“The UN’s human rights office has been invited by the government to support the protection of human rights in Bangladesh, and it should monitor developments and urgently intervene to discourage politically motivated arrests,” she added.

“Thousands have been arrested under the interim government, many on dubious murder allegations, while scores are being held under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Several have alleged mistreatment in custody, including lack of access to medical care, a chilling reminder of similar allegations under the Sheikh Hasina government,” the HRW statement said.

Police detained 16 people, including journalists and academics, on August 28 at a discussion organised by Mancha ‘71, a platform that celebrates Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971, HRW said.

At the public meeting, a mob surrounded and heckled the participants, accusing them of being loyal to the Awami League because the party promotes its role in the freedom struggle, it added.

The statement said one of the participants, Monjurul Alam Panna, a journalist, called the police for protection. Instead of arresting the disrupters, the police detained 16 participants in the event, some of them in their 70s and 80s.

Among those arrested are a Dhaka University professor, Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, and Abdul Latif Siddique, a former minister who was later expelled by the Awami League. After initially telling family members and lawyers that they were holding the detainees for their safety, the police arrested them under the anti-terrorism law, HRW said.

Two more people were later arrested in the same case. The police complaint claims that those arrested had incited violence against the interim government, which was denied by witnesses.

“It was a discussion, not even a political event, so how can it be considered terrorism?” a family member of one of those arrested told HRW.

The Anti-Terrorism Act was enacted in 2009 under the Awami League government. Officials said the 2025 amendments were needed to hold Awami League party members accountable for their abuses while in power, and that they were acting on demands from political parties and student organisations.

The statement said the Bangladesh Editors’ Council had warned that the amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act would “curtail people’s freedom of expression and limit the wide scope of freedom of the mass media, which is worrying and it would threaten freedom of the press”.

Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, however, has denied any restrictions on freedom of expression.

“The government has also been unable to contain conservative Muslim interest groups that have engaged in violence to press their demands, ranging from targeting alleged Awami League supporters to opposing women’s rights,” HRW said.

“The Bangladeshi government should stop abusing the anti-terrorism law, which is just becoming political repression by another name,” Ganguly said. “The interim government should instead focus on creating conditions for safe and participatory elections.”