AWAMI LEAGUE SUPPORTERS STARE AT AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE UNDER THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT

Individuals previously aligned with the Awami League are increasingly being subjected to mob attacks and legal persecution under the Yunus-led interim government; at least 119 people have been killed and 74 injured since the interim government assumed office in August, says Human Rights Support Society

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On the scorching afternoon of April 29, Bangladeshi actor Siddiqur Rahman Siddique stood at a fuel station in Dhaka’s Bijoy Shoroni area, refuelling his car. Suddenly, a group of youths — members of the Jatiotabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — began chasing him. Siddique fled in his car for nearly five km through the city before being caught at the Baily Road area in the capital.

The group beat him mercilessly, and in a viral video of the assault, Siddique can be seen pleading and crying out in pain and fear — his clothes torn, face bruised, and dignity shattered. “Fascist supporter,” they screamed as they kicked and punched him. And yet, the police stood by watching — silent and indifferent.

The group then handed Siddique over to the police. The television actor was later placed on a seven-day remand by a Dhaka court for attempting to kill a rickshaw-van driver during the student-led mass uprisings of last year, which ultimately led to the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government after sixteen years in power. Though Siddique was not an office-bearer of the Awami League, he had collected a nomination from the party to contest the Dhaka-17 by-election in 2023.