Latest news with #crimesagainsthumanity
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Tulip Siddiq's aunt is charged with crimes against humanity in Bangladesh 'for her involvement in mass killings'
The aunt of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has been charged with crimes against humanity for allegedly participating in mass killings during anti-government protests in Bangladesh. Arrest warrants have been issued for both the ousted Bangladeshi prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan, who are understood to be in India. Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, former police chief, has been arrested. It comes after Ms Hasina fled to India following student-led protests, which later became an anti-government uprising, saw the end of her 15-year rule in the South Asian state last August. According to the UN, as many as 1,400 people are believed to have been killed during protests last Summer after her Awami League government clamped down on marchers in Dhaka. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) said the autocratic ruler 'directly' instructed state security forces, her party as well as its associates to implement actions that led to mass killings and injuries. They also allege such operations saw targeted violence against women and children, wounded being denied medical treatment, and bodies being burnt. In an investigative report last May, the 77-year-old was named as a 'mastermind, conductor and superior commander' of the brutalities against protesters. The authoritarian leader provoked violence during a press conference at Ganabhaban on July 14, according to charges. One of the charges says Ms Hasina reportedly ordered for protesters to be killed using, lethal weapons, helicopters, and drones. Another alleges under similar instructions, officers shot and burned six unarmed protesters in the Bangladeshi capital on August 5, 2024. Manynul Karim, the International Crimes Tribunal prosecutor, claimed to the Telegraph: '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.' The charges part of a wider probe against Ms Hasina, whose premiership saw allegations of election-rigging to maintain her grip on the state, as well as accusations of human rights violations. The alleged human rights violations facing the 77-year-old include torture, extensive arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions as well as enforced disappearances of adults and children. 'We have strong evidence, including telephonic conversations, that Hasina, under her superior command responsibility, ordered crimes against humanity, including murder of students,' Mr Karim told the publication. '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.' Ms Hasina has not yet answered the charges placed against her, but if found guilty she could face a death sentence for the alleged crimes. A diplomatic row is currently brewing between India and Bangladesh after India confirmed they had received communication regarding Ms Hasina's extradition but had declined to comment further. It comes after the country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has launched a larger probe into the reported illegal allocation of state-owned land and property by Ms Hasina to her children as well as family, which includes former Labour MP, Ms Siddiq. The investigation also involves claims Ms Siddiq and four family members embezzled £4 billion through a nuclear powerplant deal struck with Russia, Ms Siddiq resigned as City minister in January – after a corruption probe into her family had begun. Her family deny all the charges against them. Earlier this year, her lawyers sent a letter to the ACC accusing it of launching 'targeted and baseless' investigations into her, claiming the corruption allegations against their client are 'false and vexatious.' £90 million worth of properties tied to the ex Bangladeshi regime have since been frozen by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK.
Telegraph
3 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.
Asharq Al-Awsat
4 days ago
- General
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Bangladesh to Open Trial of Fugitive ex-PM
Bangladesh will open the trial on Sunday of fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity related to the killings of protesters by police, prosecutors said. Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to her old ally India in August 2024 at the culmination of a student-led mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule, and has defied an extradition order to return to Dhaka, AFP said. "The prosecution team ... is set to submit charges against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina," said Gazi MH Tamim, one of the prosecutors. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government launched a brutal campaign to silence the protesters, according to the United Nations. The domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is prosecuting former senior figures connected to the ousted government of Hasina and her now-banned Awami League party. 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 expected to be broadcast live on state-owned Bangladesh Television. Prosecutors submitted their report into the case against Hasina last month with the court on Sunday expected to open proceedings by issuing formal charges. 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. Hasina remains in self-imposed exile in India and has defied an arrest warrant and extradition orders from Dhaka to face trial in person. She has rejected the charges as politically motivated. The same case is also expected to include former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. They face similar charges. 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.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Bangladesh to open trial of fugitive ex-PM
Bangladesh will open the trial on Sunday of fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity related to the killings of protesters by police, prosecutors said. Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to her old ally India in August 2024 at the culmination of a student-led mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule, and has defied an extradition order to return to Dhaka. "The prosecution team ... is set to submit charges against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina," said Gazi MH Tamim, one of the prosecutors. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government launched a brutal campaign to silence the protesters, according to the United Nations. The domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is prosecuting former senior figures connected to the ousted government of Hasina and her now-banned Awami League party. 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 expected to be broadcast live on state-owned Bangladesh Television. Prosecutors submitted their report into the case against Hasina last month with the court on Sunday expected to open proceedings by issuing formal charges. 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. Hasina remains in self-imposed exile in India and has defied an arrest warrant and extradition orders from Dhaka to face trial in person. She has rejected the charges as politically motivated. The same case is also expected to include former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. They face similar charges. 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. sa/pjm/lb
Khaleej Times
4 days ago
- General
- Khaleej Times
Bangladesh to open trial of fugitive ex-PM Sheikh Hasina
Bangladesh will open the trial on Sunday of fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity related to the killings of protesters by police, prosecutors said. Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to her old ally India in August 2024 at the culmination of a student-led mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule, and has defied an extradition order to return to Dhaka. "The prosecution team ... is set to submit charges against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina," said Gazi MH Tamim, one of the prosecutors. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina's government launched a brutal campaign to silence the protesters, according to the United Nations. The domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is prosecuting former senior figures connected to the ousted government of Hasina and her now-banned Awami League party. 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 expected to be broadcast live on state-owned Bangladesh Television. Prosecutors submitted their report into the case against Hasina last month with the court on Sunday expected to open proceedings by issuing formal charges. 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. Hasina remains in self-imposed exile in India and has defied an arrest warrant and extradition orders from Dhaka to face trial in person. She has rejected the charges as politically motivated. The same case is also expected to include former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. They face similar charges. 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.
