HRW demands fair probe into extrajudicial killings

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Bangladesh government to authorise an independent investigation into a recent spate of alleged extrajudicial killings by security forces.
 “The government should publicly order law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of all those taken into custody,” the global rights body said in a statement posted on its website Monday.
Security forces claim that the deaths after arrest occurred during ‘crossfire’, which Human Rights Watch has previously documented is used by security forces as a common euphemism to describe what they claim to be shootouts, but which in reality appears to be the killing of people already in detention.
 “We are seeing a frightening pattern of supposed ‘crossfire’ killings of opposition members in Bangladesh,” said Brad Adams, Asia director, according to a news agency.