Latest news with #BangladeshProtests
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Tulip Siddiq's aunt charged with crimes against humanity in Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina, the ousted Bangladesh prime minister and the aunt of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, has been charged with crimes against humanity for her alleged involvement in mass killings during anti-government protests. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal has issued arrest warrants for Ms Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan, the former interior minister, who are both believed to be in India. Former police chief, Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, has been arrested. According to the charges, the autocratic former leader was directly responsible for ordering all state forces, her Awami League party and its associates to carry out actions that led to mass killings, injuries, targeted violence against women and children, the incineration of bodies and denial of medical treatment to the wounded. The charges describe 77-year-old Ms Hasina as the 'mastermind, conductor, and superior commander' of the atrocities. She has not yet responded to the charges. If proven guilty, she could face capital punishment. Ms Hasina fled to India in August last year as student-led protesters brought down her 15-year rule. Her premiership was marked by widespread accusations of election-rigging to maintain her hold on power and human rights violations such as extrajudicial killing, extensive arbitrary arrests, torture and enforced disappearances, including of children. The UN human rights office has estimated that up to 1,400 protesters may have been killed in Hasina's crackdown to crush the uprising. Bangladesh has demanded that India hands her over. Last year, India confirmed receiving a diplomatic communication for her extradition from Dhaka, but it has refused to comment further, triggering a diplomatic row between the two countries. The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Mohammad Golam Mortuza Mozumder in a live trial proceedings, a first in Bangladesh, has ordered the prosecution to file a progress report on efforts to arrest Hasina and Asaduzzaman on June 16. According to the charges, Hasina incited violence during a press conference at Ganabhaban on July 14. Under her direction, law enforcement agencies carried out systematic and widespread attacks on protesters, Maynul Karim, the International Crimes Tribunal prosecutor, told The Telegraph. 'The attacks involved murder, attempted murder, torture, and other inhumane acts,' Mr Karim said. In one charge, Mr Karim said Hasina ordered the extermination of protesters using helicopters, drones, and lethal weapons, orders that Khan and Mamun allegedly executed by commanding security forces. Another charge states that, on Aug 5 last year, under similar orders, law enforcement officers shot six unarmed protesters and subsequently burned them in Dhaka's Ashulia area. Police poured petrol over the bodies and set them ablaze. 'Eyewitness testified that a young protester among them was burned alive after being shot and left wounded. He was still alive as the bodies burned,' Mr Karim claimed. The incident forms part of wider charges filed against Hasina. The charges stem from a May 12 investigative report that named her as the 'mastermind, conductor, and superior commander' behind the deadly attacks on protesters. 'We have strong evidence, including telephonic conversations, that Hasina, under her superior command responsibility, ordered crimes against humanity, including murder of students,' Mr Karim said. 'If proven guilty, she will face capital punishment. 'If she doesn't join the trial, it will be presumed that she is involved in the crimes against humanity, and the court might start a trial in absentia.' Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission is holding a wider investigation into the alleged unlawful allocation of state-owned land and apartments to Ms Hasina, her children, and close relatives, including Ms Siddiq. The case also involves a $4 billion (£2.9 billion) embezzlement investigation by the commission into a nuclear deal struck by Ms Hasina, in which Ms Siddiq had also been named, with Russia. Ms Siddiq, who resigned from the UK Government in January amid scrutiny of her links to Ms Hasina, has been named in multiple Bangladeshi inquiries for illegally acquiring plots and apartments. She has denied the charges and accused the Bangladeshi government of a 'targeted and baseless' campaign against her and asked why it had briefed the media but not put its allegations to her directly. The UK's National Crime Authority has frozen £90 million worth properties linked to the former Bangladesh regime.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Bangladesh ex-PM Hasina charged with ‘systematic attack' as trial opens
Fugitive former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina orchestrated a 'systematic attack' on protests against her government, Bangladeshi prosecutors have said at the opening of her trial over last year's deadly crackdown. 'Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack,' Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at Bangladesh's domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told the court in his opening speech on Sunday. 'The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising,' Islam said as he charged the 77-year-old former leader and two other officials of 'abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder' during the student-led mass uprising. The United Nations says nearly 1,400 Bangladeshis were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government launched a brutal campaign to silence the protesters. Bangladesh has charged her with crimes against humanity over the killings. Hasina – who remains in self-imposed exile in neighbouring India, her old ally – has rejected the charges as politically motivated. She fled by helicopter to New Delhi in August last year after the nationwide protests ended her 'autocratic' 15-year rule marked by allegations of repeated human rights violations, including attacks, imprisonment, and even targeted killings of opposition figures, dissenters, and critics. She has since defied an arrest warrant and extradition order to return to ICT is also prosecuting former senior figures connected to the ousted government of Hasina and her now-banned Awami League party, including former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. Their prosecution has been a key demand of several political parties now jostling for power. The interim government has promised to hold elections before June 2026. Prosecutors submitted their report in the case against Hasina last month, with the court expected to issue formal charges on Sunday. ICT chief prosecutor Tajul Islam said on May 12 that Hasina faces at least five charges, including 'abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising'. Investigators have collected video footage, audio clips, Hasina's phone conversations, records of helicopter and drone movements, as well as statements from victims of the crackdown as part of their probe. The ICT opened its first trial connected to the previous government on May 25. In that case, eight police officials face charges of crimes against humanity over the killing of six protesters on August 5, 2024 – the day Hasina fled the country. Four of the officers are in custody and four are being tried in absentia. The ICT was set up by Hasina in 2009 to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's war for independence in 1971. It sentenced numerous prominent political opponents to death, and many saw it as a means for Hasina to eliminate rivals.
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
Bangladesh ex-PM Hasina charged with ‘systematic attack' as trial opens
Fugitive former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina orchestrated a 'systematic attack' on protests against her government, Bangladeshi prosecutors have said at the opening of her trial over last year's deadly crackdown. 'Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack,' Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at Bangladesh's domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told the court in his opening speech on Sunday. 'The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising,' Islam said as he charged the 77-year-old former leader and two other officials of 'abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder' during the student-led mass uprising. The United Nations says nearly 1,400 Bangladeshis were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government launched a brutal campaign to silence the protesters. Bangladesh has charged her with crimes against humanity over the killings. Hasina – who remains in self-imposed exile in neighbouring India, her old ally – has rejected the charges as politically motivated. She fled by helicopter to New Delhi in August last year after the nationwide protests ended her 'autocratic' 15-year rule marked by allegations of repeated human rights violations, including attacks, imprisonment, and even targeted killings of opposition figures, dissenters, and critics. She has since defied an arrest warrant and extradition order to return to Dhaka. The ICT is also prosecuting former senior figures connected to the ousted government of Hasina and her now-banned Awami League party, including former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. Their prosecution has been a key demand of several political parties now jostling for power. The interim government has promised to hold elections before June 2026. Prosecutors submitted their report in the case against Hasina last month, with the court expected to issue formal charges on Sunday. ICT chief prosecutor Tajul Islam said on May 12 that Hasina faces at least five charges, including 'abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising'. Investigators have collected video footage, audio clips, Hasina's phone conversations, records of helicopter and drone movements, as well as statements from victims of the crackdown as part of their probe. The ICT opened its first trial connected to the previous government on May 25. In that case, eight police officials face charges of crimes against humanity over the killing of six protesters on August 5, 2024 – the day Hasina fled the country. Four of the officers are in custody and four are being tried in absentia. The ICT was set up by Hasina in 2009 to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's war for independence in 1971. It sentenced numerous prominent political opponents to death, and many saw it as a means for Hasina to eliminate rivals.
CNA
12-05-2025
- Politics
- CNA
Bangladesh investigators say ousted PM behind deadly crackdown
DHAKA: Bangladesh's former prime minister Sheikh Hasina masterminded a deadly crackdown on mass protests that prompted her ouster last year, prosecutors at a domestic war crimes tribunal said on Monday (May 12). Up to 1,400 people died in July 2024 when Hasina's government launched a brutal campaign to silence the opposition, according to the United Nations. Hasina lives in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled by helicopter, and has defied an arrest warrant from Dhaka over charges of crimes against humanity. "The investigation team has found Sheikh Hasina culpable in at least five charges," Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at Bangladesh's domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told reporters. "They have brought charges of abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising." Tajul Islam said the prosecution had submitted its first report to be presented at the court set to try Hasina and two of her aides – former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and ex-police chief Abdullah Al Mamun. "Sheikh Hasina directly ordered law enforcement agencies and auxiliary forces aligned with her party to kill and maim, and to burn corpses and even people who were still alive at certain points," he added. The ICT was set up in 2009 by Hasina to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's war for independence in 1971. Investigators have collected video footage, audio clips, Hasina's phone conversations, records of helicopter and drone movements as well as statements from victims of the crackdown as part of their probe. Bangladesh's interim government on Saturday banned Hasina's party, the Awami League, pending the outcome of the trial. The decision was taken to ensure the country's "sovereignty and security" as well as the safety of the protesters, plaintiffs and witnesses of the tribunal, Asif Nazrul, a government advisor on law and justice, told reporters.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bangladesh bans activities of Awami League, the party of ousted PM Hasina
The interim government of Bangladesh has banned all activities of the party of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last year after a student-led uprising. The interim cabinet, headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, decided to ban the Awami League under the Anti-Terrorism Act, Bangladesh's law affairs adviser, Asif Nazrul, said late on Saturday. The ban would remain in place until the trial of the party and its leadership over the deaths of hundreds of protesters at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is completed, the government said in the statement. Awami League's student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League, was banned in October after being labelled a 'terrorist organisation' for its role in violent attacks on protesters during the uprising. Thousands of protesters, including supporters of a newly formed students' party, had been taking to the streets in Dhaka for days to demand a ban on the Awami League. The members of the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami party also prominently took part in the protests. A mass uprising that began with student-led protests in July last year led to the ousting of Hasina, who had ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist for 15 years. Up to 1,400 people may have been killed during three weeks of protests against Hasina and her government, according to a February report by the United Nations human rights office. Hasina and many of her senior party officials have been accused of murder and other offences as a result. In his announcement, Nazrul also said the cabinet expanded the scope for trying any political parties involving charges of killing during the protests. The change to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act clears the way for the Awami League to be tried as a collective entity for alleged crimes committed during its time in power. The move to ban the party came hours after Nazrul said a Truth and Reconciliation Commission would be formed to underscore national unity. The latest move, political analysts say, will elude the unity needed for a smooth transition of power in this South Asian nation of 170 million people. The National Citizen Party convener, Nahid Islam, who is also a student leader, applauded the government decision. But the Awami League, founded in 1949, dismissed the decision as illegitimate, posting on its official Facebook page: 'All decisions of the illegal government are illegal.' Hasina has been living in exile in India since August 5, with her official residence in Bangladesh also stormed by protesters soon after she left. Earlier this month, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia returned to Dhaka after four months of medical treatment in the British capital, London, raising pressure on the interim government to set a date for national elections. Yunus has pledged reforms to political institutions and said the polls could be delayed until 2026.
