Human Rights Watch (HRW) has stated in its latest report that the Awami League government is ramping up repression on the political opposition and dissent ahead of the parliamentary elections in Bangladesh next year.

The report, released on Thursday, said that the government did not take steps towards reforming the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) after it was sanctioned by the USA rather it dismissed the allegations that led to the sanctions in 2021 under the United States Global Magnitsky Act.

Referring to the current political tensions in Bangladesh, the report said that increased attacks on members of the political opposition have raised fears of violence and repression ahead of  elections.

Following the Dec. 7 clashes between police and supporters of Bangladesh's main opposition political party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), in which one person was killed and a hundred more were injured, Bangladeshi law enforcers sued thousands of opposition party members.

In addition, after a clash with police on Dec. 30 in Dhaka, police arrested over a hundred Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists. In five separate cases, police charged over 5,000 party workers and office bearers.

The Jamaat is the country's main Islamic political party and a key ally of the BNP.

"The ruling Awami League is promising free and fair elections in response to increased international scrutiny but is belying those claims by ramping up repression," Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at HRW, was quoted in the report as saying.

"Donors and strategic partners should insist that Bangladeshis can express themselves and select their leaders without fear, including by supporting independent election monitoring missions," she added.

HRW reviewed human rights practices in nearly 100 countries in its 33rd edition of the 712-page report.

However, the report added that after the US sanctioned Bangladesh's elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and some of its top commanders in Dec. 2021 under the Global Magnitsky Act of 2016, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances were temporarily dropped.

"(However), authorities continued to arrest critics under the draconian Digital Security Act (DSA)," it said, citing the BNP as a source of information. It went on to state that at least 20,000 cases had been filed against BNP supporters.

In November, the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit filed a case under the DSA against a Paris-based blogger, Pinaki Bhattacharya, and two others for "tarnishing the image of the state" in a Facebook post.

The government also cracked down on human rights organizations. Odhikar, a prominent group, was denied registration renewal, while its leaders, Adilur Rahman Khan and ASM Nasruddin Elan, face surveillance and ongoing trials as part of ongoing harassment, according to the report.​​​​​​​