Staff Reporter :
The US State Department has clearly said that they are not going to withdraw the sanctions against Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) which is facing charges of serious abuse of human rights violation in Bangladesh.
The State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel in a press conference on Thursday said the claim that the sanctions on RAB would be withdrawn is ‘false’.
“Those claims are false. The U.S. is not withdrawing sanctions against the RAB. Those claims are false,” he said in reply to a question of a journalist.
The reporter asked that after the meeting with the visiting Assistant Secretary Donald Lu, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s advisor told the reporters that White House and the State Departments are very much willing to remove the sanctions as US imposed on RAB for extreme violation of human rights and extrajudicial killing.
Vedant Patel two times said that the claims were false. Rather he said, “Sanctions are intended to change behavior and promote accountability.”
Such remarks came from the State Department on the same day when Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu wrapped up his three-day visit in Bangladesh on Thursday.
After a dinner meeting with Donald Lu, Prime Minister’s private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman informed the journalists that discussions have taken place with Lu, regarding the subject of sanctions on RAB.
The adviser further stated that Donald Lu had previously informed them that progress had been made regarding RAB. As a result, cooperation on this issue is being extended from the State Department. The State Department has informed the Justice Department of the progress made on the issue of RAB.
Following such statement from Bangladesh side, the State Department outright rejected the claim.
On 10 December, 2021, the US Department of Treasury imposed the sanctions for widespread allegations of serious human rights abuse in Bangladesh by RAB – as part of the Bangladeshi government’s war on drugs-threaten U.S. national security interests by undermining the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the economic prosperity of the people of Bangladesh.
Treasury Department further said that the NGOs have alleged that RAB and other Bangladeshi law enforcement are responsible for more than 600 disappearances since 2009, nearly 600 extrajudicial killings since 2018, and torture. Some reports suggest these incidents target opposition party members, journalists, and human rights activists.
Following such allegations of human rights violations, the Department slapped sanctions on six high officials of RAB.
Whenever any interaction takes places with US high officials, Bangladesh side request them to withdraw the sanction, but the US did not make any concrete output regarding when such sanctions would be lifted.
Rather different international rights groups in Human Rights Watch on different occasions demanded credible investigation into the alleged abuses of human rights violations by the elite force.
