Legal proceedings have commenced against fugitive former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who stands accused of orchestrating a coordinated and systematic campaign against widespread protests during her administration’s final months in office.
At the opening of the trial held by Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Sunday, Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam alleged that Hasina, 77, directed a state-wide crackdown between July and August 2024 that led to the deaths of nearly 1,400 civilians. According to the United Nations, the fatalities occurred during a brutal campaign aimed at silencing anti-government dissent.
“In reviewing the evidence, we determined it was a deliberate, widespread, and systematic attack,” stated Islam, outlining charges including abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder. Islam claimed that Hasina deployed law enforcement and armed affiliates of her now-prohibited Awami League party to suppress the student-led uprising.
Hasina, who fled to India via helicopter in August 2024 following the collapse of her 15-year tenure, has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated. She currently remains in self-imposed exile in New Delhi, defying an arrest warrant and formal extradition request from Dhaka.
The ICT is also prosecuting key figures from Hasina’s former administration, including ex-Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. Both are implicated in the wider investigation into the suppression of protests.
These prosecutions align with demands from several political factions contending for influence in Bangladesh’s transitional government, which has pledged to hold elections by June 2026.
On 12 May, Prosecutor Islam confirmed that Hasina faces at least five charges related to the July 2024 events. The prosecution’s case includes extensive evidence such as video recordings, intercepted phone calls, drone and helicopter movement logs, and testimonies from victims and eyewitnesses.
Formal charges are expected to be confirmed imminently, following the prosecution’s submission of the case dossier last month.
The ICT opened its first trial related to the 2024 protests on 25 May, in which eight police officers face charges for crimes against humanity following the deaths of six protesters on 5 August—the same day Hasina fled the country. Four of the officers are in custody, while four are being tried in absentia.
Ironically, the ICT was originally established in 2009 under Hasina’s leadership to investigate war crimes dating back to Bangladesh’s 1971 independence. The tribunal has since drawn criticism for allegedly being used to marginalise political opposition, with several high-profile convictions viewed by international observers as politically motivated.
-Al Jazeera
