consistently postponed throughout the year due to illness. In 2018 Zia was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment on corruption and embezzlement charges, which were first filed in 2008. International and domestic legal experts commented on the lack of evidence to support the conviction and suggested a political ploy to remove the leader of the opposition from the electoral process. These experts stated courts were generally slow in considering petitions for bail on her behalf. The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal, established in 2010 to conduct trials of those accused of war crimes and atrocities that took place during the 1971 War of Independence, was active during the year; many observers viewed the proceedings as politically motivated, as the court almost exclusively indicted members of opposition political parties. In July the tribunal sentenced six persons to death for committing crimes against humanity in Khulna. In March and May, the tribunal sentenced to death members of the Jamaat-e-Islami party for collaborating with the Pakistan Army. Transnational Repression The government used transnational repression to intimidate or exact reprisals against individuals outside its sovereign borders, including against members of diaspora populations, such as political opponents, civil society activists, human rights defenders, and journalists. Threats, Harassment, Surveillance, and Coercion: According to the press, police and intelligence agencies continued to harass and surveil human rights defenders, civil society leaders, and the family members of critics based outside of the country. In March UN human rights experts called on the government to “immediately cease reprisals against human rights defenders and relatives of forcibly disappeared persons for their activism and cooperation with international human rights bodies and UN mechanisms.” In March, Nusrat Shahrin Raka, sister of U.S.-based Bangladeshi journalist Kanak Sarwar, was released on bail after being imprisoned for 160 days. As of December, she remained out on bail, although the cases against her continued and hearings took place every few months. In October 2021, media reported RAB Page 13