Bangladesh must be supported on road to democracy - Avebury

6.01.40pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 29th Sep 2006

Speaking at a seminar last night entitled Bangladesh: logjam on the road to free and fair elections, Liberal Democrat Peer and Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, Lord (Eric) Avebury said "With only a month to go before the caretaker government takes office for the period leading up to the elections in January 2007, the prospects for free and fair elections in Bangladesh are looking bleak.

"In the last month, there has been an escalation of violence by the police against political demonstrators.

"Two MPs were also badly injured in attacks by the police - Asaduzzaman Noor, and Mohammed Nasim. We are preparing to submit formal complaints on their behalf to the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians.

"The violence has got even worse since then, and I believe it is part of a deliberate campaign to incapacitate opposition leaders and activists in advance of the election.

"It's still important that friends of Bangladesh tell the world how the election is being hijacked, and send a message of solidarity to the democrats who are under siege."