Universities punish scores for supporting Hasina: HRW

Scores of teachers and students at more than 20 public universities in Bangladesh have been arbitrarily punished over their alleged affiliation with former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report.

Based on interviews with more than a dozen affected teachers and students, as well as reviews of university documents and videos, HRW said punishing people for their peaceful beliefs without due process violates the rights to freedom of expression and association.

The measures include dismissals, suspensions and restrictions on teaching, imposed over alleged involvement in violence during the 2024 student-led uprising, participation in what universities described as 'subversive' political activities, or discrimination against students wearing Islamic attire.

Hundreds of students accused of supporting the Awami League, whose activities were criminalised by the interim government in May 2025, have also been expelled, had their academic certificates cancelled and barred from campuses.

HRW Deputy Asia Director Meenakshi Ganguly said only autocrats fear political debate on the university campuses and urged Bangladesh to break with a history of partisan repression rather than repeating it whenever power changes hands. 

Media reports in August 2026 also revealed investigations against at least 404 more academics across 22 universities over a pro-Awami League Telegram group. An unnamed professor said false allegations have barred teachers who did not back the 2024 movement from classes and research.

Since September 2024, Dhaka University (DU) has ordered 44 academics to stop work and restricted teaching for 25 others without credible probes, later temporarily suspending six and investigating another 14. 

Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) in Mymensingh dismissed, suspended, or removed 12 teachers and demoted or restricted 34 others through an inquiry commission that appeared to breach legal disciplinary rules.

Dhaka's Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University suspended 12 academics, removed 10 after hearings they were barred from attending, and denied promotions to 85 others.

In March 2025, DU also temporarily suspended 126 students and withheld their exam certificates citing visual or social media evidence of attacks on peaceful protesters. At least 277 other Awami League students named in police cases avoid campus, fearing arrest. 

Meanwhile, the International Crimes Tribunal has convicted three academics of crimes against humanity, two of whom are imprisoned, while a fourth awaits trial.

DU sociology professor Mashiur Rahman is among those being targeted. 

He served on deputation as a vice-chancellor elsewhere from 2017, was ordered to halt work on 25 September 2024 and recommended for permanent suspension on 31 August 2026, a decision he is appealing.

Authorities accused him of calling the protests 'illegal, baseless and irrational' on television in July 2024 and inciting genocide at the prime minister's house on 3 August 2024. HRW found no such televised remark and he denied making the statement at what was a mandatory University Grants Commission meeting of vice-chancellors. 

At BAU, authorities suspended Pharmacology Professor Purba Islam and Animal Breeding and Genetics Professor Yahia Khandoker on 4 August 2025 over a 4 August 2024 pro-Awami League march. 

However, HRW found no confrontations or evidence of Purba Islam shouting slogans in a BAU Journalists' Association Facebook video.

The High Court stayed the suspension of Yahia Khandoker, who said he was in Dhaka with his family during the protests, though the Attorney General's Office is appealing. 

Warning against revenge targeting peaceful supporters of the former government, Meenakshi Ganguly said universities must remain spaces for free expression rather than enforced support for the ruling party.

Source: Prothom Alo