BANGLADESH: ILAAD ALERTS THE UN OF THE ARBITRARY DETENTION OF 49 INDIVIDUALS, INCLUDING 17 CHILDREN

The International League Against Arbitrary Detention (ILAAD), alongside JusticeMakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF), have submitted an urgent action request to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) concerning the arbitrary detention of 49 individuals, including 17 children, after a peaceful rally in Noakhali.

ARBITRARY DETENTION OF 49 INDIVIDUALS, INCLUDING 17 CHILDREN, FOLLOWING A PEACEFUL POLITICAL RALLY

This action concerns the arrest and detention of 49 individuals, including 17 children, by the authorities of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, following their participation in a peaceful political rally held in Noakhali on 5 June 2026.

On 5 June 2026, activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jubo League organized a peaceful protest rally in the Badharhat Market area of Noakhali Sadar Upazila. This constitutionally protected act of political expression was met with a wave of arrests carried out jointly by party-aligned activists and law enforcement authorities.

At around 9:00 p.m. that evening, 18 individuals, including 17 children, were detained in the Pouro Bazar area of Maijdee town by activists of the ruling party-aligned student organization, the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, and subsequently handed over to the police. Between the night of 5 June and the early hours of 6 June 2026, police conducted further operations in the areas of Eojbalia, Kaladaraap and Noakhali Municipality, detaining an additional 24 individuals.

In total, 49 individuals were arrested solely for their participation in, or alleged preparation of, a peaceful political rally. No allegations of violence, vandalism, or threat to public safety have been made against any of the detainees.

A CLEAR CASE OF CATEGORY II ARBITRARY DETENTION

ILAAD and JMBF submit that these arrests constitute a serious violation of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, guaranteed under Articles 19, 21 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and under the Constitution of Bangladesh, as well as of the prohibition of arbitrary arrest and detention enshrined in Article 9 of the ICCPR and Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The detentions fall squarely within Category II of arbitrary detention as defined by the Working Group, as they result directly from the peaceful exercise of internationally protected rights and freedoms. The submission also recalls the Working Group's recent jurisprudence on Bangladesh, including Opinions No. 39/2025 and No. 40/2025, which documented the politically motivated use of criminal charges and the long-standing practice of mass arrests targeting activists.

PARTICULAR CONCERN: THE ARBITRARY DETENTION OF 17 CHILDREN

The detention of 17 children is of the gravest concern. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Bangladesh acceded in 1990, the detention of minors must be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time. The children in Noakhali were deprived of their liberty not for any act of violence, but solely on the basis of their alleged political affiliation and participation in a lawful assembly — a practice fundamentally incompatible with international juvenile justice standards.

URGENT ACTION REQUESTED TO THE UN WORKING GROUP AGAINST ARBITRARY DETENTION

The urgent action request appeals for the WGAD to transmit an urgent appeal to the Government of Bangladesh and to call for the immediate and unconditional release of the 49 detainees, including the 17 children; the withdrawal of all charges and proceedings initiated against them; the full respect of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association; and an independent, impartial and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the arrests, in accordance with Bangladesh's international human rights obligations.