Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused authorities at more than 20 public universities in Bangladesh of arbitrarily punishing academics and students over their alleged affiliation with former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party.
In a statement issued today (4 November), the international rights organisation said scores of academics had faced dismissal, suspension and restrictions on teaching, while hundreds of students had been expelled or faced other disciplinary measures.
HRW said any action against individuals for their peaceful political beliefs or without ensuring due process would violate their rights to freedom of expression and association under international human rights law.
Such actions would also repeat previous administrations’ attempts to control political opinion and expression at public universities, it added.
“Bangladesh has a long history of political debate in its universities, and only autocrats should fear such discourse, not a government formed following student protests,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“Bangladesh needs to turn the page on the repression of the past, not repeat it whenever the ruling and opposition parties trade places,” she added.
According to HRW, the sanctions against academics are based on allegations of complicity in violence under the Awami League government, support for the party through other “subversive” activities, or discrimination against students wearing Islamic clothing.
The organisation said it had interviewed more than a dozen affected teachers, examined university correspondence and reviewed a televised discussion and a social media video as part of its investigation.
Interviews with teachers and students also confirmed cases of expulsions, cancellation of examination certificates and restrictions on students’ access to campuses, it said.
Investigations and disciplinary actions across universities
Citing media reports from August 2026, HRW said at least 404 academics at 22 universities had been placed under investigation for being members of a Telegram group supporting the Awami League.
“What is happening now is that the university authorities are targeting with false allegations the group of teachers who are aligned to the Awami League and did not support the 2024 student movement,” a professor at a public university told HRW on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“We are not allowed to go take classes, we cannot do research work, we cannot do anything,” the professor said.
At Dhaka University, authorities began taking action against academics in September 2024. According to HRW, 44 teachers were initially ordered to stop working, while another 25 faced restrictions on their teaching assignments without transparent or credible disciplinary investigations.
Six of the academics were subsequently formally suspended following an inquiry committee’s findings, while investigations have begun against another 14 teachers.
At Bangladesh Agricultural University in Mymensingh, authorities dismissed, suspended or removed 12 academics and demoted or restricted the activities of another 34 after forming an investigation commission.
HRW said the commission’s process did not appear to comply with the university’s legally established disciplinary procedures.
At Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka, 12 academics were temporarily suspended and another 10 removed from academic activities following an inquiry process that teachers said they were not allowed to attend. Another 85 teachers were denied promotions.
The rights organisation said the process appeared to breach the law governing academic discipline.
Students face expulsions and restrictions
HRW also raised concerns over disciplinary action against students accused of supporting the Awami League.
In March 2025, Dhaka University temporarily suspended 126 students and withheld their examination certificates after a fact-finding committee reported finding photographic, video or social media evidence that they had attacked peaceful protesters.
Police cases also alleged that another 277 Awami League-affiliated students were involved in the violence.
Although the university authorities have not taken formal action against the latter group, students and teachers told HRW that they were staying away from campus for fear of arrest.
Many of those accused have denied involvement in the violence, but the university has not provided them with an opportunity to respond to the allegations, the organisation said.
Allegations against individual academics
Among the academics facing disciplinary action is Professor Mashiur Rahman of Dhaka University’s sociology department, who had been serving as a vice-chancellor at another university on deputation since 2017.
He was instructed to stop all academic and administrative activities on 25 September 2024.
One of the allegations against him was that he had opposed the July 2024 student movement, describing it as “illegal, baseless and irrational” during a televised discussion. However, HRW said a video of the programme reviewed by the organisation did not contain any such remarks.
He was also accused of inciting genocide during a meeting at the prime minister’s residence on 3 August 2024.
Rahman told HRW that the meeting had been organised by the University Grants Commission and attended by all vice-chancellors. He denied making the alleged statement and said no evidence had been presented against him.
On 31 August 2026, university authorities recommended his permanent suspension. He is appealing the decision, HRW said.
At Bangladesh Agricultural University, disciplinary action against several teachers centred on their alleged participation in a pro-Awami League procession on 4 August 2024, a day before Hasina fled the country.
An inquiry commission formed by the university described the procession as a “terrorist” march.
HRW reviewed a video of the procession posted on Facebook by the Bangladesh Agricultural University Journalists’ Association on 4 August 2024. The footage showed a group of people walking across the campus while chanting slogans, but no direct confrontations were visible.
Professor Purba Islam of the Department of Pharmacology was suspended on 4 August 2025 over allegations of chanting slogans in support of what the university described as the “oppression, persecution and genocide committed by the fascist and autocrat Sheikh Hasina”.
However, HRW said the video did not show evidence of her chanting slogans.
Professor Yahia Khandoker of the Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics was also suspended on the same date for allegedly maintaining “on the university campus, a clear position in favour of Sheikh Hasina’s mass killing”.
Khandoker told HRW that he had been in Dhaka with his family throughout the protest period and was not at the university. The High Court has stayed his suspension, although the attorney general’s office is appealing the decision.
Political context
Hundreds of people were killed during the police crackdown on student-led protests in July and August 2024, which led to Hasina’s departure from the country.
The protests paved the way for the return of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to power following the February 2026 election. The interim government had criminalised the activities of the Awami League in May 2025.
HRW said Bangladesh’s public universities had long been run along partisan lines, with successive governments favouring academics aligned with the ruling party while taking action against supporters of political opponents.
The organisation also noted that three academics had been convicted by the country’s International Crimes Tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity, two of whom were in prison, while another was awaiting trial.
“Any acts of revenge against people who peacefully supported the previous government would show that freedoms of speech and assembly are not protected,” Ganguly said.
“Universities should be places where people are free to express their views, not places where support is enforced for the government of the day,” she added.
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