Lift sanctions on RAB: Foreign secy tells US under secretary

Bangladesh has reiterated its call to the United States for withdrawing sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said after his meeting with the visiting US Under Secretary Uzra Zeya today.

Speaking at a briefing on Thursday (13 July) at the State Guest House Padma, Masud Bin Momen said they discussed civil rights, Bangladesh's efforts over Rohingya repatriation and issues related to the upcoming national elections as part of the meeting's agenda.

Earlier on 10 December 2021, the US Treasury Department imposed human rights-related sanctions on Bangladesh's elite paramilitary force RAB and seven of its current and former officers, accusing them of being involved in hundreds of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings since 2009.

The sanctions bar RAB from owning properties in the US as well as engaging in any financial transaction with a US body or personnel. 

In the briefing, US Under Secretary Uzra Zeya said the Bangladesh government has expressed strong commitment in support of free and fair elections.

"I've heard strong commitments in support of free and fair and peaceful elections from the prime minister and all other ministers with whom I've had the pleasure to meet today," Zeya said.

"The United States, as part of our global human rights policy and a longtime partner of Bangladesh, wants to help make this possible," she said.

Terming Wednesday's rallies of the ruling Awami League and the opposition BNP as 'good Harbinger', she said, "I would say, yesterday we witnessed large political rallies that were, thankfully, free of serious violence. And I think this is what we would like to see."

Regarding the polls-time government – regarding which the ruling party and opposition hold different positions – the US under secretary said the timetable of the elections is for Bangladesh to decide.