Ex-Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been officially indicted on charges of crimes against humanity in relation to the violent suppression of anti-government protests that killed more than 1,400 people last year. The indictment was issued in absentia by a three-judge bench of Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal on Thursday.
Hasina, who escaped Bangladesh on 5 August 2024, is still on the run in India despite several official extradition requests from Dhaka. She is said to have shunned all demands that she return and stand trial.
The court also charged her one-time interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun with five charges, including inciting or involvement in state-perpetrated torture. Prosecutors accuse Hasina of being the "mastermind and superior commander" of the July 2024 crackdown, when student-led protests erupted across the country against her growingly autocratic rule.
Security forces, in accordance with human rights groups, shot live ammunition into protesters, causing widespread casualties. Thousands were arrested en masse, prosecutors making accusations of leaked audio recordings and internal memos that suggest orders were from Hasina directly.
The Awami League party, now banned by the interim government, rejected the charges, terming the tribunal a "kangaroo court." Ironically, Hasina herself set up the tribunal in 2009 to probe 1971 war crimes.
Hasina was already given six months imprisonment for contempt of court after an audio recording came out where she purportedly told, "There are 227 cases against me, so I now have a licence to kill 227 people." Her trial will commence on 3 August.
The authorities stated that ex-police chief al-Mamun has pleaded guilty and will appear as a state witness. Interim Prime Minister Mohammad Yunus faulted India for giving protection to Hasina and affirmed that the national elections would be held by April 2026 without Awami League involvement.
