Bangladesh has reintroduced “except Israel” inscription on passports debarring its citizens from travelling to the Jewish state as public anger mounted against Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, officials said on Sunday (April 13, 2025).
The home ministry issued a directive asking the passport and immigration department to reinstate the sentence “THIS PASSPORT IS VALID FOR ALL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD EXCEPT ISRAEL” in the official travel permits for citizens visiting abroad, the state-run BSS news agency reported.
The phrase “all nations besides Israel” was dropped in 2021 during the Awami League government led by now-deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The authorities at that time said it was dropped from the passport to maintain international standards of the document.
Massive crowd of Muslims carries flags throughout a protest rally known as March for Gaza, to specific solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, on the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 12, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
“We issued the letter (directive) on April 7,” Nilima Afroze, Deputy Secretary of Home Ministry’s Security Services Division, instructed the information company.
The disclosure, nevertheless, got here a day after thousands of protesters rallied in the capital to sentence Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip, carrying tons of of Palestinian flags and chanting slogans like “Free, Free Palestine.”
The primary protest was held in central Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Udyan close to the premier Dhaka University and lots of amongst them beat the photographs of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing them of backing Israel.
Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party and rightwing Islamic teams and events expressed solidarity with the rally.
Published – April 13, 2025 08:01 pm IST
