What US says about Chinmoy’s arrest

US State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel has said that they do not have details regarding the arrest of Chinmoy Das Brahmachari, a former ISKCON leader and spokesperson for the Bangladesh Sanatan Jagarana Mancha.

“We continue to stress and emphasize that even those who are in detention need to be afforded appropriate representation and need to be treated with basic fundamental freedoms and human rights.” he told a press briefing on Tuesday.

Patel made the comments when asked about the actions the US might take in response to Chinmoy’s arrest. His lawyer was reportedly beaten and hospitalized, and no other lawyers in the country are willing to represent him. 

Asked about British MPs Barry Gardiner and Priti Patel concerns in the UK parliament over violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, Patel said “We are consistent with every government in which we have a relationship with – we are clear that there needs to be the respect of fundamental freedoms; there needs to be respect of religious freedom and basic human rights.” 

He further mentioned “Any kind of protests should be and need to be peaceful, and that any kind of crackdown - not even crackdown – that governments need to respect the rule of law, they need to respect basic human rights as part of that. And that’s something we’ll continue to emphasize.