After its first credible elections in years, Bangladesh is aiming to institutionalise the demands for reform that emerged from 2024 protests. Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, explains the stakes. Bangladesh has been on the radar of Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression – and not just because it is her home country. “Elections are a particular high point when freedom of expression is under threat,” she told Swissinfo by video from Dhaka, a week after the first elections since 2024 protests ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. And while Khan is positive about the “relatively free and fair” voting procedure on February 12, her views are less upbeat when it comes to freedom of expression. In the past two years, under an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, hundreds of journalists were detained on what Khan has previously described as “politically motivated, dubious charges of ...
