David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 9 February, Hamid Sotounzadeh was peacefully protesting—peacefully—the brutality of the Iranian regime outside the Iranian embassy in Canberra. We all saw what followed—a violent assault by an AFP officer that left Hamid severely injured and hospitalised. Now, 10 months later, it appears that an internal police review that followed a complaint by Hamid looks set to let the police off the hook. On 3 November, Hamid was advised by the AFP, 'The investigation, to date, has not revealed criminal conduct.' How could that be? We've seen the video, and it was an obvious assault on a peaceful protester and one that caused grievous bodily harm. But, when police investigate police, too often the fix is in. We get months and months of delay followed by an almost inevitable clean bill of health for the police involved. I can tell you this: it won't end here.

On 7 January next year, Bangladesh will head to the polls at a time of widespread political unrest and political repression. The main opposition party will not be running in the election because of the lack of fair rules and processes. In October this year, the Bangladeshi government put in place laws that allow the Ansar, a paramilitary auxiliary force, to enter homes to grab people and hand them to police. It's a chilling move for their political opponents.

Mass protests have followed which have faced police violence and serious brutality. Human Rights Watch has called what's happening to the BNP 'a violent autocratic crackdown', and Amnesty and the UN Human Rights Commission have also spoken out about what's happening. The Bangladeshi community in Australia have serious concerns about what's happening to their families and communities back in Bangladesh, and I share those concerns. With only a few short weeks to go before the election, the world needs to watch and push for the freest possible result for the people of Bangladesh.