Dhaka, July 20: Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has directed that investigations in seven separate cases tied to last year’s July–August killings be completed within the next three months, setting 15 October as the deadline.
The cases, which stem from violence during the anti-discrimination student movement, name 45 individuals as accused.
Among them are several senior political figures from the former Sheikh Hasina administration, including ex-law minister Anisul Huq, ex-education minister Dipu Moni, former adviser on private industry Salman F Rahman, and former state minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak.
The order came during a hearing on Saturday, led by ICT Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder.
Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam placed a petition requesting additional time, which the tribunal approved.
According to the Bangladesh leading daily, the Dhaka Tribune, 39 out of the accused, which included high-profile former ministers, were presented before the court on the same day, in connection with the seven cases currently under investigation.
The tribunal in December last year instructed that investigations begin in two of the cases, where 46 individuals — including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina — had been accused.
The fresh order expands the investigation to include a total of seven cases. These cases are based on the unprecedented violence that erupted in different parts of Bangladesh during the anti-discrimination student movement last year.
What started as the demand for quota reform eventually turned into a movement to change the government.
Severe clashes reportedly broke out when protesters attending a non-cooperation programme to demand the government’s resignation faced opposition from government supporters. Protesters then dismissed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s invitation for dialogue to quell the violence.
Over 200 people were reportedly killed in violent clashes between the police and predominantly student protesters, last year in July-August, who demanded the scrapping of the controversial quota system that reserves 30 per cent of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s War of Independence in 1971. (IANS)
