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Kuwait Times
2 hours ago
- Business
- Kuwait Times
Bangladesh former PM accused of ‘systematic attack' in crackdown
Govt issues new banknotes featuring founding president DHAKA: Fugitive former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina orchestrated a 'systematic attack' that amounted to crimes against humanity in her attempt to crush the uprising that toppled 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 after 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. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is prosecuting former senior figures connected to Hasina's ousted government and her now-banned party, the Awami League. 'Upon scrutinizing the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack,' ICT chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam 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 five charges each against Hasina and two other officials that included 'abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising'. Prosecutors say such acts are tantamount to 'crimes against humanity'. '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 did not appear in court on Sunday—and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who is also 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 that 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 and records of helicopter and drone movements, as well as statements from victims of the crackdown, as part of their probe. The prosecution argues that Hasina ordered security forces, through directives from the interior ministry and police, to crush the protesters. 'They systematically committed murder, attempted murder, torture, and other inhuman acts,' Islam said. Prosecutors also allege that security forces opened fire from helicopters after Hasina's directives. They also accused Hasina of ordering the killing of student protester Abu Sayeed, who was shot dead at close range in the northern city of Rangpur on July 16. He was the first student demonstrator killed in the police crackdown on protests and footage of his last moments was shown repeatedly on Bangladeshi television after Hasina's downfall. The ICT court opened its first trial connected to Hasina's 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 that 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. Separately on Sunday, the Supreme Court restored the registration of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, allowing it to take part in elections. Hasina had banned Jamaat-e-Islami and cracked down on its leaders. Bangladesh's interim government banned the Awami League in May, pending the outcome of her trial, and those of other party leaders. Bangladesh banknotes Meanwhile, Bangladesh on Sunday issued new banknotes to replace designs featuring its founding president, the father of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina who was overthrown last year. The South Asian nation of some 170 million people has been run by a caretaker government since Hasina fled - whose trial opened Sunday on charges of trying to crush the uprising against her government in August 2024. Until now, all notes featured the portrait of her father, the late Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh from independence from Pakistan in 1971 until soldiers assassinated him and most of his family in a 1975 coup. 'Under the new series and design, the notes will not feature any human portraits, but will instead showcase natural landscapes and traditional landmarks,' Bangladesh Bank spokesman Arif Hossain Khan told AFP. Among the designs in the Muslim-majority nation are images of Hindu and Buddhist temples, as well as historical palaces. They also include artwork of the late painter Zainul Abedin, depicting the Bengal famine during British colonial rule. Another will depict the national martyrs' memorial for those who died in the independence war against Pakistan. On Sunday, notes for three of the nine different denominations were released. 'The new notes will be issued from the central bank's headquarters, and later from its other offices across the country,' he added. 'The other denominations of the notes with new designs will be released in phases'. Existing notes and coins will remain in circulation alongside the new notes. It is not the first time that the design has changed to reflect changing politics. Initial notes issued in 1972 - after Bangladesh changed its name from East Pakistan - featured a map. Later notes featured Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the Awami League, which Hasina also led during her 15 years in power. When other parties were in charge - dominated by the powerful Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) - historic and archaeological sites featured. - AFP
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First Post
a day ago
- Politics
- First Post
The irony in Hasina's trial at Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal
The irony is that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina now stands accused of crimes against humanity before the very tribunal she created in 2009 to try war criminals of the 1971 Liberation War. Once the architect of justice, she is now branded the 'mastermind' behind mass killings during the 2024 student-led protests. read more In a dramatic twist of history, former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina now stands accused of crimes against humanity before the very tribunal she helped establish more than a decade ago to prosecute war criminals of the 1971 Liberation War. Hasina, who ruled the country for 15 years until her dramatic ouster in August 2024, has been formally charged along with two senior officials for ordering violent crackdowns during last year's student-led uprising that engulfed the nation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The irony is profound. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), which Hasina launched in 2009 to seek justice for the atrocities committed during the war of independence from Pakistan, is now poised to try her for alleged atrocities against her own people and this time not for wartime collaboration, but for domestic political repression. According to an investigation submitted on May 12, Hasina is described as the 'mastermind, conductor, and superior commander' of the brutal crackdown that swept through the country between July and August 2024. The tribunal's probe alleges that she directed state forces, the ruling Awami League, and allied groups to launch a systematic campaign of terror against student demonstrators. The charges include mass killings, injuries, sexual violence, incineration of bodies and the denial of medical care to the wounded. The United Nations has estimated that as many as 1,400 people were killed in the three-week crackdown, a staggering figure that stunned the international community. Three days after Hasina fell from power, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge as interim prime minister. His administration has since outlawed the Awami League and amended national laws to facilitate legal action against former regime figures, including Hasina. Adding another layer to the unfolding saga, Yunus has called for Hasina's trial to be broadcast live, a move critic say is aimed less at justice and more at cementing political legitimacy. His government insists the trial will expose the magnitude of state-sponsored atrocities; however, the Awami League denounces it as a 'mock trial in a kangaroo court,' driven by vendetta and political opportunism. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The tribunal that Hasina once championed was itself controversial, frequently accused of serving political ends, particularly in the execution of top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and a senior figure from Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Hasina's government had long rebuked the court's ties with Islamist groups. Now, the same court is turning its legal machinery on its founder. While the charges are grave, their political implications are no less weighty. The trial not only seeks to hold Hasina accountable for the alleged atrocities of 2024 but also threatens to reshape Bangladesh's political arena. Whether the court delivers justice or reinforces political theatre, the spectacle of Hasina once prosecutor now defendant highlights a grim paradox in the country's turbulent march toward accountability.
New Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Bangladesh opens trial of deposed ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
DHAKA: A special tribunal set up to try Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina began proceedings Sunday by accepting charges of crimes 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 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.
New York Times
2 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Bangladesh's Ousted Leader Faces New Arrest Warrant in Killing of Protesters
A special court in Bangladesh on Sunday issued an arrest warrant for the ousted leader Sheikh Hasina, as prosecutors sought to hold her accountable for the deaths of more than a thousand protesters in the final months of her authoritarian rule. The International Crimes Tribunal, which Ms. Hasina set up in 2010 to look into war crimes of decades past, charged Ms. Hasina, the former prime minister, and several of her top lieutenants with a long list of roles in the mass killings, including incitement, facilitation and conspiracy. While the toppled leader has faced arrest warrants in other cases, these are the gravest of charges against her so far. The tribunal's chief prosecutor, Mohammad Tajul Islam, accused Ms. Hasina of unleashing systematic violence against peaceful protesters last July before she fled the country and sought refuge in India, where she remains. While Ms. Hasina's years of crushing dissent, which culminated with last summer's deadly crackdown, are well-documented, the trial comes at a particularly fraught political moment in Bangladesh. The interim administration that replaced her is accused by opposition parties of delaying elections for her replacement. Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Laureate who is leading the interim government, is facing pressure from opposition parties to hold the vote by December. He has pushed for more months beyond that, saying the extra time is needed to reform election procedures and deliver a fairer vote. The court's proceedings were televised live for the first time in the country's history. All of the accused were absent. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Bangladesh opens fugitive ex-PM's trial over protest killings
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". 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.
