IMPUNITY FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION A climate of impunity persisted. The authorities continued to fail to hold senior officials accountable for torture and other human rights violations committed during and since the 2011 protests. No investigation or prosecution was known to have taken place into the deaths of six people, including one child, killed by security forces in Duraz between January and May 2017. Attacks against journalists continued, with a number of physical assaults on journalists reported, including the killing of Abdul Hakim Shimul. The government continued to use repressive laws to unduly restrict the right to freedom of expression, and to target and harass journalists and human rights defenders. Key punitive provisions of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Act remained intact, despite repeated calls by human rights mechanisms to repeal its abusive clauses. The government reiterated its intention to introduce the Digital Security Act, which would restrict further the right to freedom of expression online. Investigations into killings during 2015 and 2016, which were claimed by the armed group Ansar al-Islam and targeted secular activists, were still ongoing. The group was banned in March 2017 but ongoing delays in criminal prosecutions continued to have a chilling impact on civil society. WORKERS’ RIGHTS – MIGRANT WORKERS  Migrant workers continued to face exploitation. In March and June, migrant workers participated in marches to peacefully protest against unpaid salaries. DEATH PENALTY Bahrain resumed executions after a hiatus of nearly seven years, executing three Bahrainis in January. The courts continued to hand down death sentences for offences including murder and terrorism-related charges. BANGLADESH People’s Republic of Bangladesh Head of state: Abdul Hamid Head of government: Sheikh Hasina Bangladesh received more than 655,000 Rohingya refugees who were forced out of Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Members of the opposition Jamaat-e-Islami were arbitrarily arrested. Human rights defenders were harassed and intimidated. The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association remained restricted. Enforced disappearances persisted. The strategy to combat violence by armed groups continued to be marked by human rights violations. LGBTI people continued to be harassed and arrested. Security forces in the Chittagong Hill Tracts failed to protect Indigenous people from violence. On a positive note, a decade of steady economic growth helped to reduce extreme poverty. Amnesty International Report 2017/18 RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE LGBTI activists continued to be routinely harassed and subject to arbitrary detention by state and non-state actors. The killings of activists in 2016 by Ansar al-Islam intensified existing fears of the LGBTI community; many activists remained in hiding. In May, 28 men believed to have been targeted for their perceived sexual orientation were arrested in Keraniganj, a neighbourhood of the capital, Dhaka, and charged with violating the Narcotics Control Act 1990. The arrests were made at a regular gathering known to be frequented by gay men. No one was brought to justice for the 2016 killing of LGBTI activists Xulhaz Mannan, Mahbub Rabbi Tanoy, Avijit Roy and Niladry Niloy, although at least one arrest was made in 2017. FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY The right to freedom of peaceful assembly continued to be severely restricted. Political opponents were denied the right to 87