Bangladesh extends armed forces judicial powers

By : AFP

Date: 17 November 2024 8:25am WAT

Bangladeshi security personnel stand guard at the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong on February 24, 2019, after an emergency landing of the hijacked Dubai-bound Bangladesh Biman plane. - All passengers on board a Dubai-bound Bangladesh Biman plane are safe after Bangladeshi security forces foiled a hijack attempt by a lone suspect on Sunday, a senior air force official said. "We have successfully rescued everyone," said Air Vice Marshall Mofid, who goes by one name, after security forces stormed the plane and arrested a 25-year-old man for attempting to hijack flight BG147 which had taken off from the capital Dhaka. (Photo by STR / AFP)

ndian security personnel wearing facemasks amid concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, stand guard at the platform upon arrival of the “Maitree Express” train, which connects Dhaka in Bangladesh to India, in Kolkata on March 14, 2020. India with its 1.3 billion population and proximity to China has so far come through the global virus crisis relatively unscathed with just 81 reported cases. Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP

Bangladesh’s interim government has extended the judicial powers of the armed forces granted after the August revolution that toppled ex-leader Sheikh Hasina.

The government order, issued November 15, extends for two more months the powers of the armed forces to engage in day-to-day enforcement activities like the police, including making arrests.

“The armed forces will carry out the orders assigned to us by the government,” army spokesman Sami-Ud-Daula Chowdhury said Sunday.

Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, 77, had ordered police to crush student-led protests — a deadly crackdown that left at least 700 people dead — before she fled by helicopter to India on August 5.

Her 15-year regime was marred by incidents of preventing the opposition from exercising their democratic rights.

Since then, a caretaker government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has been tasked with implementing democratic reforms and holding elections.

The army was brought in to restore security with many people having lost confidence in the police.

Only officers with the rank of captain or above are authorised to make an arrest, high court lawyer Imam Hasan Tareq said Sunday.

The powers have been extended to include the coastguard and border security units.