Bangladesh proposes death penalty for enforced disappearances

Bangladesh’s government has proposed the death penalty for enforced disappearances after an official inquiry recorded more than 1,500 cases during deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 17-year rule.

Ms. Hasina, who was toppled in a 2024 uprising, was accused of using the security forces to crush dissent, with many of those detained coming from her political rivals in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party.

A commission set up after her overthrow recorded at least 1,569 cases of enforced disappearances during her tenure, with 251 victims still missing and presumed dead.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, who leads the BNP, pledged during the February 2026 elections to end the state-backed violence that marked Ms. Hasina’s rule.

The bill, the Prevention and Remedies for Enforced Disappearance Act, must be passed by Parliament. “If the enforced disappearance results in death, the punishment may be extended to the death penalty”, the cabinet statement read, after the draft was agreed late on Monday (August 3).

It proposes that families of victims be compensated from the property of convicted offenders. While Ms. Hasina is a convicted fugitive in exile, rights groups say that political rivalries, weak law enforcement and a culture of impunity are driving continued violence in Bangladesh.

ms. Hasina, 78, remains in hiding in neighbouring India. She was convicted in absentia by a Dhaka court of crimes against humanity in 2025 and sentenced to be hanged.

She told AFP last week she is determined to return home this year.