UN says Sheikh Hasina’s crackdown may be crime against humanity

Up to 1,400 people were killed in last year’s anti-government protests in Bangladesh, most of them by security forces, the United Nations estimates.

UN human rights investigators accuse the deposed government of Sheikh Hasina of a brutal response that they warn could amount to “crimes against humanity”.

They found “an official policy to attack and violently repress anti-government protesters and sympathisers”, calculated to hang on to power in the face of mass opposition.

Sheikh Hasina, who had been in office for 15 years, fled by helicopter to India shortly before crowds stormed her residence.

Thousands more were injured in the worst violence Bangladesh has seen since its war of independence in 1971.

Student-led protests against quotas in civil service jobs escalated into a countrywide movement to oust Ms Hasina and her Awami League Party following a brutal police crackdown.

The UN investigators documented the shooting at point blank range of some protesters, the deliberate maiming of others, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Children too were targeted – the report estimates up to 13% of the 1,400 people killed were children.

The report was requested by Bangladesh’s caretaker leader, Muhammad Yunus.

While it attributes most of the violence to government security forces, it also raises concerns about attacks on those perceived to be supporters of the former government, and against some religious and ethnic groups.

These must be investigated too, the UN says.