Shahanur Islam, who founded Justice Makers Bangladesh (JMBF) in France, led a five-person delegation that held talks with Fausto Matos — a cabinet-level official attached to the office of European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen — at the Commission's Brussels premises.
At a meeting held after August 2024, the delegation outlined a range of concerns about conditions in Bangladesh, including a prohibition placed on the Awami League, capital sentences handed down to party leaders, the targeting of political opponents, people held without clear legal basis, deaths occurring in custody, violence carried out by crowds, and constraints placed on civil and political participation. Concerns were also raised over the targeting of journalists and legal professionals, alongside mounting pressure on groups considered at risk or pushed to the margins of society.
A formal briefing note covering reported human rights violations in Bangladesh from August 2024 through October 2026 — prepared under a title referencing the post-August 2024 change of government — was presented to the delegation, which also pressed for deeper engagement on the matter from the European Union. The document called on the EU to pursue three specific outcomes: restoration of the Awami League's legal standing, an end to politically motivated prosecutions, and tangible steps toward safeguarding core civil liberties.
The document further urged the EU to apply pressure on Bangladeshi authorities over questions of accountability, while also advocating for the protection of human rights, democratic governance, and adherence to the rule of law within the country.
Six thematic reports compiled by JMBF were also presented to the delegation, covering documented accounts of extrajudicial killings and deaths in custody during the period of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration, alongside concerns over judicial independence for legal practitioners and the standing of LGBTQI+ rights within the country. Among the findings across those thematic reports were accounts of physical harm directed at garment-sector workers, a pattern of pressure applied against members of the legal profession, and an assertion by JMBF that authorities had moved to suppress its human rights coverage in Bangladesh.
Concern about death sentences handed down across 23 rulings — covering 22 named individuals — by Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunals was also placed on the record by the organisation. Those facing such penalties include former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and a range of other Awami League figures and party-linked individuals, all in cases arising from the civil unrest of July and August 2024.
JMBF founder Shahanur Islam raised concerns about whether the tribunals operate with genuine independence and impartiality, pointing in particular to death sentences handed down through in-absentia proceedings, allegations that prosecutions have been driven by political considerations rather than legal merit, and what the delegation described as insufficient procedural safeguards to meet internationally recognised due-process and fair-trial standards. The delegation further noted that arrests, intimidation, and extended pre-trial detention targeting lawyers place the legal profession's autonomy at risk, narrow pathways to justice, and erode the rule of law. The delegation also drew attention to a reported rise in attacks on journalists, human rights defenders, teachers, students, and workers, alongside incidents of sexual violence against children, violence directed at women and girls, and the targeting of religious and ethnic minorities as well as LGBTQI+ individuals throughout Bangladesh.
JMBF called on the EU to anchor quantifiable human rights obligations within its diplomatic, trade, and development dealings with Bangladesh.
