Bangladesh will take necessary steps to extradite deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Bangladesh will take necessary steps to extradite deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India to try her on charges of mass killings during the student-led mass movement against her government, the newly-appointed chief prosecutor of the country’s International Crimes Tribunal said on Sunday, September 8, 2024.

Following unprecedented anti-government protests that peaked on August 5, Ms. Hasina resigned as Prime Minister and fled to India.

Necessary steps will be taken to bring former Prime Minister Hasina back under the extradition treaty with India to try her on charges of mass killings during the student-led protests in July and August, International Crimes Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Md Tajul Islam was quoted as saying by The Daily Star newspaper.

“We will file an application with the International Crimes Tribunal, when it resumes functions, to issue arrest warrants against all the absconding accused including Sheikh Hasina in connection with the cases filed for mass killing and crimes against humanity,” he said at a press briefing on the ICT premises in Dhaka.

Replying to a question, he said a decision would be taken after consulting with the government about amendments to the existing International Crimes Tribunal Act for holding trial of the new cases filed with IT.

“Information, documents, and evidence against the accused persons will have to be collected from across the country and those will have to be compiled, examined, and placed properly before the tribunal, which is very much challenging and huge task,” Mr. Islam added.

Also Read: Sheikh Hasina looks at UAE, Saudi for asylum

According to the interim government’s Health Adviser Nurjahan Begum, more than 1,000 people have been killed and hundreds injured during the protests against the Hasina-led government.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) last month launched an investigation against Ms. Hasina and nine others on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity that took place from July 15 to August 5 during the students’ mass movement.

Mr. Islam said the International Crimes Tribunal and its investigation team will have to be reconstituted by appointing new judges and investigators as previous judges, prosecution team and investigation agency appointed by the previous government have stepped down after the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed in the country following the fall of the Hasina-led government.

A murder case has been filed against Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
| Photo Credit: AP

A murder case has been filed against Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and six others over the death of a grocery shop owner during last month’s violent clashes that led to the fall of her government, media reports said on Tuesday (August 13, 2024).

The case was the first to be filed against Ms. Hasina, 76, after she resigned and fled to India last week following widespread protests against her Awami League-led government over a controversial job quota system.

The case was filed by a well-wisher of the grocery store owner Abu Sayed, who was killed on July 19 in police firing during a procession in support of the quota reform movement in Mohammadpur, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

The other accused are Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, among others.

Besides, several unnamed high-ranking police officials and government officials were also accused in the case, according to the report.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, taking the death toll to 560 since the anti-quota protests first started in mid-July.

An interim government was formed after the fall of the Hasina-led government, and its Chief Adviser, 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, announced the portfolios of his 16-member council of advisors last week.

On Monday (August 12, 2024), seven political parties, including the Awami League’s arch-rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), met Mr. Yunus separately and said the interim government could take the time necessary to create a conducive environment for holding free and fair elections, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

“We have given this interim government the time required to create a proper environment for holding an election,” the report quoted BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir as saying.

He said they did not discuss the election and that the BNP did not mention any specific time frame for holding the next election.

The BNP was extending its full support to all the activities of the interim government, he said.

Quoting sources, the report said that the party urged Mr. Yunus to have all the cases against its leaders, including those against party chairperson Khaleda Zia and acting chairman Tarique Rahman, withdrawn.

Former prime minister Ms. Zia, 79, was released from jail after Hasina’s ouster. She was sentenced to 17 years in prison for graft in 2018.