[JURIST] The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHCR) [official website] expressed concern [press release] on Friday regarding increasing political violence in Bangladesh. The OCHCR believes that the increase in political violence began earlier this month when the Bangladeshi government banned demonstrations and protesting after the Bangladesh National Party (BNR) [official website] attempted to launch a transport blockade in celebration of its boycott of the country’s 2014 elections, which were marked [Al Jazeera report] by considerable violence and which returned President Shiekh Hasina Wajed to power. Since the beginning of the month, the OCHCR reports that dozens of people have been killed and many more injured. Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani stated, “the deepening political violence in Bangladesh, resulting from the failure of the two major political parties to resolve their differences peacefully, is very disturbing.” The OCHCR is calling on authorities to investigate the killings, as well as to ensure that measures are taken to confirm that all arrests made are in accordance with international human rights law.

The political situation in Bangladesh has been tense in recent months following BNP’s boycott of the January 2014 elections. In April Bangladesh’s High Court ruled that Zia must stand trial on corruption charges [JURIST report]. In February a former Bangladeshi minister from the Jatiya party [party website, in Bengali] was indicted by a Dhaka tribunal for crimes committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War [Bangladesh News backgrounder] with Pakistan. Also in February Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] issued a statement [JURIST report] demanding that the Bangladesh government do more to prevent garment factory owners from intimidating workers for organizing trade unions and to prosecute any parties responsible for attacks on labor leaders.