[JURIST] The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances [official website] urged [press release] Bangladesh on Friday to end enforced disappearances. The Working Group says that the number of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh has risen from a few cases to around 40 in the past few years. Many of the cases involve political opponents, including three men who disappeared last August. The Working Group said, “Enforced disappearance is a heinous crime and an offence to human dignity and no circumstances whatsoever may be invoked to justify it.” The group wants Bangladesh to disclose immediately the whereabouts of the victims.

Bangladesh’s criminal justice system has also faced criticism recently. In January a Bangladesh court sentenced [JURIST report] 26 individuals to death for murder. In August UN humans rights experts urged [JURIST report] the government of Bangladesh to repeal the death sentence imposed upon Mir Quasem Ali, an opposition member of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. Also in August the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) sentenced [JURIST report] a former member of parliament to death and seven others to life in prison for crimes committed during the 1971 war for independence. In July a Bangladeshi court officially indicted [JURIST report] 41 people with murder stemming from a 2013 garment factory collapse that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 people. In June the ICTB sentenced [JURIST report] Mohibur Rahman to death for his part in the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.