Alongside the European Union, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Japan, India, Palestine, among others, have confirmed to send their representatives to observe 12th Jatiya Sangsad (JS) election in Bangladesh slated for January 7, 2024.
Seheli Sabrin, Spokesperson to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told this during the ministry's weekly briefing on Sunday.
The US has not yet confirmed its decision to send election observers to the 7 January election in Bangladesh, foreign ministry spokesperson said on Sunday.
“In addition, India, the OIC, and Palestine have confirmed their commitment to sending election observers. India will send three observers, while Palestine will send six”, she said.
Meanwhile, she said, Japan has expressed interest in sending a 16-member team of election observers.
“The European Union Election Expert Mission currently visiting Bangladesh will remain in the country until 21 January,” she added.
Sabrin mentioned that they have received additional applications, which are currently under review.
"The Election Commission will be notified once their participation is confirmed," added the spokesperson.
Earlier on 7 December, Election Commission (EC) Secretary Jahangir Alam disclosed that they had received a total of 179 applications, including 131 for observers and 48 for journalists, to monitor the national election.
The deadline for foreign observers to apply concluded on December 7, and the Election Commission is scheduled to approve them by 16th December.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the government is working on bringing back convicted Al-Badr leaders Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin and Ashrafuzzaman Khan from the UK and the US, respectively.
“We are in touch with the countries where they are living”, Seheli Sabrin in replying to a question, ahead of Martyred Intellectuals Day on December 14.
“Since it is a legal process, we cannot give out every detail. But we are working to bring them back,” she said.
The International Crimes Tribunal on November 3, 2013 convicted the two for abducting and killing 18 intellectuals, including nine teachers of Dhaka University, six journalists and three doctors, in the last days of Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971, sentencing them to death.
Neither the UK nor the US support capital punishment.
Bangladesh also does not have extradition treaties with the two countries.
The Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliates collaborated with Pakistan during the war. Al-Badr was one of their forces.
Renowned filmmaker and Dhaka University teacher Prof Munier Chowdhury, Prof Mufazzal Haider Chaudhury, Dr Faizul Mohiuddin, journalists Selina Parvin, Shahidullah Kaiser, and physicians Md Fazle Rabbi and Alim Chowdhury were among the victims of the Al-Badr force.
