US Congressman Lloyd Doggett and Senator Chris Van Hollen are leading a group of their colleagues in urging Washington to impose targeted sanctions on former senior Bangladeshi officials responsible for violence against peaceful student protesters, specifically naming Obaidul Quader and Asaduzzaman Khan.

“Now is the time for bold action, not just another tepid expression of concern. Our support of fundamental human rights must apply to those in countries with which we have a friendly relationship as much as to those with which we do not,” Representative Doggett said on Friday. 

“While greatly encouraged by the naming of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to lead the new interim government, those responsible for so much recent repression and so many deaths should be sanctioned.” 

Meanwhile, Senator Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the use of violent force against peaceful protesters exercising their freedom of expression was an unacceptable violation of human rights. 

The Bangladeshi leaders who orchestrated this brutal crackdown must be held accountable, Van Hollen said, adding that which was why they were calling on the Joe Biden administration to sanction Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader and Asaduzzaman Khan, home minister in the recently dissolved Cabinet. 

In their letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, the lawmakers wrote that on July 15, the then-ruling Awami League deployed the police and paramilitary forces to suppress students peacefully protesting unfair quotas in government jobs. 

“Over the next week, security forces used disproportionate, unlawful force and fired rubber bullets, pellet guns, sound grenades, tear gas and live rounds against student protesters. These violations were part of a broader crackdown on dissent by the Awami League, whose leaders have not been held to account for their human rights abuses.” 

As the home minister, Asaduzzaman had borne responsibility for the conduct of the police and Border Guard Bangladesh, the two agencies responsible for most of the violence, they said. 

Quader, on the other hand, had sent the Awami League's student wing, the Chhatra League, to attack peaceful protesters and issued “shoot-on-sight” orders, they added in their letter. 

“It is estimated that at least 200 people were killed and thousands injured, with the real figures likely much higher.”

Additional signers include Representatives James P McGovern, William R Keating, Al Green and Senator Edward Markey.