Bangladesh saw surge of mob killings in 2024: Groups

Mob killings in Bangladesh surged after the August revolution last year that toppled the iron-fisted rule of ex-leader Sheikh Hasina, three rights groups said on Wednesday.

Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), a leading Bangladeshi human rights organisation, said it had recorded at least 128 people killed by mobs in 2024.

Of those, 96 took place from August onwards — meaning roughly three-quarters of the killings occurred after Hasina fled the country.

“Lynchings and mob beatings reflect the growing intolerance and radicalism in society,” said senior ASK member Abu Ahmed Faijul Kabir.

Two other human rights organisations reported similar numbers — around three times more than the average of the previous five years. The Manabadhikar Songskriti Foundation said it had documented 146 people killed by mobs in 2024, while the Human Rights Support Society recorded 173 deaths.

While the reasons for the mob killings were not given, revenge attacks surged after Hasina’s fall, targeting members of her former ruling Awami League party. “We urge citizens to seek help from the police, instead of taking the law into their own hands,” said Inamul Haque Sagar, a police spokesman.

Beauty Ara described how her husband Abdullah Al Masud — a former leader of the student wing of Hasina’s Awami League — was beaten to death on Sept.7.

“I had just given birth, but I rushed to the morgue to see my husband,” Ara said. Masud had already been beaten in a previous attack, when he lost a leg.

“We filed a police case, but there has been no progress so far,” Ara added. ASK also said it had recorded 21 extrajudicial killings in 2024 — a trademark tactic used by security forces during Hasina’s leadership, when hundreds of her political opponents disappeared. Twelve killings happened after Hasina was deposed.

“We cannot say the human rights situation has improved,” said Noor Khan Liton, adviser to HRSS, and a member of the government-appointed commission examining enforced disappearances.

All three groups also condemned the brutal crackdown by security forces under Hasina’s command — killing hundreds of people — in a failed bid to crush the student-led uprising.

Sara Hossain, a human rights activist and Supreme Court advocate, said Bangladesh urgently needs a commission to “steer the process of ensuring justice” for those wounded by the crackdown under Hasina’s tenure.

Hossain also said the interim government must also investigate the “disturbing allegations” made by the rights groups.

Agence France-Presse