Bangladesh: 59 Indigenous people, including 3 children, in prison without charge for 21 months

[Tilly lavenas]

Dear Friends

Please send this letter or in your own words on behalf of the 59 Indigenous Bawn people who have been imprisoned since April 2024 on specious charges. Most lack legal representation. Three have died due to inadequate health care.

In general, Indigenous Peoples in Bangladesh are being persecuted and discriminated against by state authorities. There are about 11,000 Bawm people in Bangladesh and most of them are living in fear of arrests. They also lack food and access to education and employment.  

Thanks! Tilly & Guy

Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus 

Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh 

Old Sangsad Bhaban Tejgaon, Dhaka-1215 

Bangladesh 

Email: ps...@cao.gov.bd 

Dear Excellency Professor Muhammad Yunus, 

I’m deeply concerned about the 59 Indigenous Bawm people, including three children, who have been detained without trial since 7 April 2024 as part of an ongoing military operation in villages in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

I believe they have been subjected to unfair criminal practices and racial discrimination.

If sufficient evidence of sedition, robbery or kidnapping exist, please either promptly charge or release them. I also call on you to provide adequate legal representation and healthcare and allow their relatives to visit without fear of being arrested. 

Finally, I strongly urge you to end the crackdown against the Bawm community.

Yours sincerely, 

Please send a copy to the ambassador in your country:

HE Tareq Md Ariful Islam

Embassy of Bangladesh

3510 International Drive NW

Washington, DC 20008

mission.w...@mofa.gov.bd

HE Abida Islam

High Commission for the People’s Republic of Bangladesh

28 Queen’s Gate

London, SW7 5JA

personalo...@gmail.com or in...@bhclondon.org.uk

For more information about Amnesty’s Urgent Action 48/24: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa13/0550/2025/en/