Sheikh Hasina Urges UN Forum To Lift Ban On Awami League To Fight Bangladesh Election

Kolkata: Former Bangladesh Prime Minister and Awami League supremo Sheikh Hasina has made an “urgent” appeal to a United Nations (UN) forum to lift the ban on her party in her apparent bid to contest the elections in her country.

Recently, Chief Advisor of the interim government in Bangladesh and Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus announced elections to be held in the country in February next year. The interim government earlier banned Awami League in Bangladesh from May 11 this year.

Ms Hasina, believed to be in India following her escape from Bangladesh on August 5 of 2024, appointed two counsels of a UK-based legal consultancy, Doughty Street Chambers, who filed a plea to the UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic International Order.

Doughty Street Chambers said in a statement on its website, “Steven Powles KC and Alex Tinsley from Doughty Street Chambers have submitted a Request for Urgent Action on behalf of Sheikh Hasina, President of the Bangladesh Awami League, to the UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic International Order and other UN Special Rapporteurs regarding the unjustifiable ban of the Awami League in Bangladesh.”

It pointed out, “Dr Muhammed Yunus assumed power in Bangladesh and established an Interim Administration on 8 August 2024. Since Dr Yunus assumed power, supporters of the Awami League, those associated with it and minorities have been subjected to widespread attacks in Bangladesh. Such attacks have gone unpunished and the Interim Administration has offered the perpetrators blanket immunity.”

According to the law firm, “The Interim Administration has undertaken to hold elections in February 2026. It remains to be seen if this promise will be kept. In the meantime the Awami League remains a popular political force in Bangladesh. However, in May 2025, the Interim Administration banned the Awami League from participating in elections and has restricted all its activities until the conclusion of proceedings against Awami League leaders before the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal.”

It added, “The Urgent Appeal to the UN Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic International Order sets out how the ban of the Awami League violates fundamental human rights, undermines the rule of law and democracy in Bangladesh. The Appeal calls on the Independent Expert and other Rapporteurs to urge the Interim Administration to hold free and fair elections as a matter of urgency, to lift the ban on the Awami League and to allow them to fully participate in any such elections when they are held.”