<div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has said his government is committed to upholding human rights and freedom of speech in the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He made the comments when senior officials of more than half a dozen top global human rights groups met him at a hotel here on Wednesday (local time).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the meeting, justice and accountability of the atrocities and abuse of human rights committed during the July-August mass uprising and also during Sheikh Hasina's 15 year long dictatorship were discussed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Human rights officials stressed the need for more investigations into some 3,000 extrajudicial killings carried out during the dictatorship.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They also called for security sector reforms, repeal of the cyber security act and unfettered access to justice and ensure accountability of activities of the detention centres where the victims of the enforced disappearances were kept during Sheikh Hasina's autocratic rule.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights, led the delegation of nine HR officials. Agnes Callamard, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, also joined the meeting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Callamard said the interim government should send "a powerful message demonstrating that this is a new Bangladesh."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prof Yunus briefly outlined how civil liberties and human rights were denied during the previous autocratic regime and what his government has so far done to establish human rights in the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said his government has set up several commissions, including one regarding to the police, to carry out vital reforms and institutional changes in Bangladesh.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said the interim government would welcome any criticism of its activities and vowed that the interim administration would uphold freedom of speech.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This government isn't bothered by any criticism. In fact, we are inviting criticism," he said, adding the government "won't restrict any voices" in the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman, formerly a Hong Kong-based human rights activist, and Julia Bleckner, a senior researcher of Human Rights Watch, also spoke during the meeting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>