DHAKA, July 10: Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) has indicted former premier Sheikh Hasina in absentia on charges of crimes against humanity related to a deadly crackdown on protesters during the July-August uprising last year. The tribunal has set August 3 as the date for the trial, with the charges framed against Hasina alongside the home minister of her regime Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and then-inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun.
The prosecution said Hasina and the co-accused were indicted on five charges, including mass killings, murder, and torture to tame the protestors during the uprising. If proven guilty, the accused could face the death penalty. A UN rights office report states that up to 1,400 people were killed between July 15 and August 15 last year as Hasina’s government ordered a security crackdown on protesters.
Hasina faces multiple cases in Bangladesh after being ousted on August 5 last year following a mass student-led agitation in the country, which forced her to flee Dhaka.
The ICT-BD’s investigation agency filed its report in May 12 with five charges against the trio. The charges include the delivery of a provocative speech by Hasina at a press briefing on July 14, 2024, issuing a directive to eliminate the July Movement protesters with the use of helicopters, drones, and lethal weapons by law enforcement agencies, collaborating with the Awami League, and plotting to kill innocent students and people on August 5 last year in Dhaka’s Chankharpul and Ashulia areas as part of a broader plan to eliminate the protesters to suppress the movement.
The ICT-BD was originally formed during the Awami League regime in 2010 to try hardened collaborators of Pakistani troops during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War on charges of crimes against humanity. Muhammad Yunus’ interim government decided to try Hasina in the same court on identical charges. (PTI)
