DHAKA, July 18 -- The notice that appeared in Bangladesh's official gazette on 3 July 2025 gave Saima Wazed seventeen days to appear before a Dhaka court on corruption charges. She was, at the time, serving as the World Health Organization's Regional Director for South-East Asia, based in New Delhi, with a known institutional address, established professional contacts, and the diplomatic standing that accompanies a senior UN posting.

That notice, a University of Dhaka law professor argues in a new study, was not merely short; it was shorter than Bangladesh's own law permits, published through a channel the statute does not authorise, and issued without evidence that authorities first attempted any of the direct forms of communication the...