Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina faces arrest warrants over alleged crimes against humanity
Dhaka: A special tribunal in Bangladesh has issued arrest warrants for deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 29 others in connection with alleged crimes against humanity, including cases of enforced disappearances during her tenure leading the Awami League government.
Sheikh Hasina, 78, is accused of overseeing a systematic campaign of abductions and secret detentions targeting political and ideological dissenters during her time in power. She is currently being tried in absentia and has been residing in India since her government was toppled on August 5 last year following mass student-led protests.
The three-member International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), chaired by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mojumder, accepted charges under two separate cases and ordered the arrest of all 30 accused, a senior prosecutor confirmed on Wednesday.
The ICT, originally established to prosecute war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War, has now expanded its remit to include contemporary crimes under international law. In this case, it has charged individuals for offences that allegedly took place during the Awami League’s rule, which ended amid widespread unrest and allegations of authoritarian overreach.
Chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, once a defence lawyer in war crimes cases, said Hasina and her former defence adviser, retired Major General Tarique Ahmed Siddique, were central figures in the alleged abduction and torture of detainees held in secret locations.
Among the accused are five former directors general of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Bangladesh’s powerful military intelligence agency, as well as several senior officers from the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a force repeatedly accused by international bodies of extrajudicial actions.
Civilian figures named in the cases include former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed, and ex-RAB chiefs M Khurshid Hossain and Harun ur Rashid.
According to the prosecution, victims were abducted and held in undisclosed detention centres where they were subjected to prolonged torture. The charges allege these acts were part of a coordinated campaign by state institutions under the Awami League administration to silence opposition voices.
All 30 accused are currently considered fugitives. The tribunal has ordered them to be produced before the court on October 22.
Sheikh Hasina, who had ruled the country for over a decade before her dramatic fall from power, now faces a series of legal challenges as new authorities continue to investigate alleged abuses committed during her administration.
PTI