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CTV News
5 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Bangladesh opens trial of deposed ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reviews an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File) DHAKA, Bangladesh — A special tribunal set up to try Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina began proceedings Sunday by accepting the charges against humanity filed against her in connection with a mass uprising in which hundreds of students were killed last year. The Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal directed investigators to produce Hasina, a former home minister and a former police chief before the court on June 16. Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5, 2024, while former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan is missing and possibly also is in India. Former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun has been arrested. Bangladesh sent a formal request to India to extradite Hasina in December. State-run Bangladesh Television broadcast the court proceedings live. Hasina and her Awami League party had earlier criticized the tribunal and its prosecution team for their connection with political parties, especially with the Jamaat-e-Islami party. In an investigation report submitted on May 12, the tribunal's investigators brought five allegations of crimes against humanity against Hasina and the two others during the mass uprising in July-August last year. According to the charges, Hasina 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 Hasina as the 'mastermind, conductor, and superior commander' of the atrocities. Three days after Hasina's ouster, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as the nation's interim leader. The Yunus-led administration, which has already banned the Awami League party, amended relevant laws to allow for the trial of the former ruling party for its role during the uprising. In February, the U.N. human rights office estimated that up to 1,400 people may have been killed in Bangladesh over three weeks in the crackdown on the student-led protests against Hasina, who ruled the country for 15 years. The tribunal was established by Hasina in 2009 to investigate and try crimes involving Bangladesh's independence war in 1971. The tribunal under Hasina tried politicians, mostly from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, for their actions during the nine-month war against Pakistan. Aided by India, Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina's father and the country's first leader. In a separate development, Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Sunday cleared the path for the Jamaat-e-Islami party to regain its registration as a political party after a decade — a decision that would enable the party to take part in elections. The country's top court overturned a previous High Court verdict and said it is now up to the Election Commission to formally restore the registration of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party and their election symbol. Yunus said his administration would hold the election by June next year, but the Bangladesh Nationalist Party headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Hasina's archrival, wants the election to be held in December this year. The relation between Zia's party, which is the largest in absence of Hasina's party, and the Yunus-led government has recently been frosty over the polls schedule. Julhas Alam, The Associated Press
Free Malaysia Today
5 days ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Bangladesh opens fugitive ex-PM's trial over protest killings
Up to 1,400 people were killed during violent protests in Bangladesh last year. (EPA Images pic) DHAKA : Fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina orchestrated a 'systemic attack' to try to crush the uprising against her government, Bangladeshi prosecutors said at the opening of her trial today. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government launched its crackdown, according to the United Nations. Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to her old ally India as the student-led uprising ended her 15-year rule, and she has defied an extradition order to return to Dhaka. The domestic international crimes tribunal (ICT) is prosecuting former senior figures connected to Hasina's ousted government and her now-banned party, the Awami League. 'Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack,' Mohammad Tajul Islam, ICT chief prosecutor, told the court in his opening speech. 'The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising.' Islam lodged charges against Hasina and two other officials of 'abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising'. 'Not an act of vendetta' Hasina, who remains in self-imposed exile in India, has rejected the charges as politically motivated. As well as Hasina, the case includes ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun – who is in custody, but who did not appear in court today – and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who like Hasina, is on the run. The prosecution of senior figures from Hasina's government is a key demand of several of the political parties now jostling for power. The interim government has vowed to hold elections before June 2026. The hearing is being broadcast live on state-owned Bangladesh Television. Prosecutor Islam vowed the trial would be impartial. 'This is not an act of vendetta, but a commitment to the principle that, in a democratic country, there is no room for crimes against humanity,' he said. 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 court 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 Aug 5, 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 became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate rivals. Earlier today, the Supreme Court restored the registration of the largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, allowing it to take part in elections. Hasina banned Jamaat-e-Islami during her tenure and cracked down on its leaders. In May, Bangladesh's interim government banned the Awami League, pending the outcome of her trial, and of other party leaders.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Ousted Bangladesh leader Hasina faces crimes against humanity charges
Former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina was formally charged with crimes against humanity on Sunday for her alleged role in the brutal suppression of last year's mass uprising, which ultimately ended her 15-year rule. A three-member panel of judges at the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka led by Golam Mortuza Mozumder accepted the charges against Hasina and two of her senior aides — former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun. Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam, while presenting the charges, said Hasina incited crimes against humanity through inflammatory rhetoric and by mobilizing the state's administrative and security apparatus to violently quell the protests. The prosecution accused the trio of abetment, conspiracy, complicity, facilitation and failing to prevent mass killings during the student-led demonstrations that erupted across Bangladesh in mid-2024. According to Chief Prosecutor Islam, Hasina and her aides 'unleashed all state law enforcement agencies and armed members of the then ruling party to crush the uprising.' He described the crackdown as a 'systematic attack aimed at silencing dissent.' The court proceedings were broadcast live on state-run Bangladesh Television, marking an unprecedented moment in the history of Bangladesh's judiciary. A United Nations fact-finding mission estimated that approximately 1,400 people were killed in the unrest, which initially began in July 2024 as a protest against the controversial quota system in public sector recruitment. The protest soon spread nationwide and culminated into mass uprising, leading to Hasina's ouster in early August. Hasina, 77, fled the country by military helicopter on August, 5, 2024 and has since remained in exile in India.
Malay Mail
5 days ago
- General
- Malay Mail
Bangladesh opens historic trial against fugitive ex-leader Hasina over crackdown that killed 1,400
DHAKA, June 1 — Fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina orchestrated a 'systemic attack' to try to crush the uprising against her government, Bangladeshi prosecutors said at the opening of her trial on Sunday. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government launched its crackdown, according to the United Nations. Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to her old ally India as the student-led uprising ended her 15-year rule, and she has defied an extradition order to return to Dhaka. The domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is prosecuting former senior figures connected to Hasina's ousted government and her now-banned party, the Awami League. 'Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack,' Mohammad Tajul Islam, ICT chief prosecutor, told the court in his opening speech. 'The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising.' Islam lodged charges against Hasina and two other officials of 'abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising'. 'Not an act of vendetta' Hasina, who remains in self-imposed exile in India, has rejected the charges as politically motivated. As well as Hasina, the case includes ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun — who is in custody, but who did not appear in court on Sunday — and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who like Hasina, is on the run. The prosecution of senior figures from Hasina's government is a key demand of several of the political parties now jostling for power. The interim government has vowed to hold elections before June 2026. The hearing is being broadcast live on state-owned Bangladesh Television. Prosecutor Islam vowed the trial would be impartial. 'This is not an act of vendetta, but a commitment to the principle that, in a democratic country, there is no room for crimes against humanity,' he said. 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 court 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, 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 became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate rivals. Earlier on Sunday, the Supreme Court restored the registration of the largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, allowing it to take part in elections. Hasina banned Jamaat-e-Islami during her tenure and cracked down on its leaders. In May, Bangladesh's interim government banned the Awami League, pending the outcome of her trial, and of other party leaders. — AFP
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- General
- South China Morning Post
Bangladesh trial accuses fugitive ex-PM Hasina of organising ‘systematic attack' on protests
Fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina orchestrated a 'systemic attack' on protests against her government, Bangladesh i prosecutors said on Sunday at the opening of her trial over the deadly crackdown. Advertisement 'Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and [a] systematic attack,' Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at Bangladesh's domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told the court in his opening speech. 'The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising'. Hasina, who remains in self-imposed exile in India, has rejected the charges as politically motivated. As well as Hasina, the case includes ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun – who is in custody, but who did not appear in court on Sunday – and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who, like Hasina, is on the run. Advertisement
