Opposition activists languish in prison as a national election nears

DHAKA — Fazlur Rahman died on a hospital floor with his hands and legs still cuffed, his son Mohammad said, his voice breaking while recalling his father’s final moments.

Rahman, 63, was one of thousands of opposition activists who were arrested in the months leading to Sunday’s parliamentary election amid a sweeping polarized political culture.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said Rahman was one of 10 members who died in police custody. According to his family, he was arrested on Oct. 25 and taken to jail. He fell sick and was later transferred to a hospital where he died over a week ago, they said. Rahman’s arrest came three days before a massive opposition rally turned violent, leaving at least 11 dead and nearly a hundred injured.

The BNP has accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government of a crackdown targeting its supporters and opposition politicians on what they say are trumped-up charges in the lead-up to the polls. They claimed that over 20,000 of their members have been jailed in recent months.

However, government officials argued the figure to be much lower and that arrests were made not because of specific criminal charges such as arson. Attorney General A.M. Amin Uddin told The Associated Press Friday that between 2,000 and 3,000 people have been arrested. The country’s law minister told the BBC last week that 10,000 have been arrested.

The figures remain unclear.

CIVICUS, a nonprofit that tracks civic freedoms around the world, recently downgraded Bangladesh to “closed,” the worst rating that it could assign, following the latest crackdown on opposition supporters.

The clampdown has raised questions about the legitimacy of the upcoming election.