Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal or the ICT has formally indicted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of mass murder and crimes against humanity. The charges are based on her alleged role in orchestrating a violent suppression on students in the student led protests between July and August of 2024 resulting in around 1,400 deaths (including students, police and common peopl), according to a UN human rights report. The tribunal was Hasina’s brainchild, established in 2010 to prosecute war crimes from the 1971 liberation war, but has now turned its focus on her. She has been accused of ‘abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder’.
Hasina fled to India after a 16-year rule marked by increasing authoritarianism. She remains in a self imposed exile. The ICT issued a fresh arrest warrant on 2nd June of this year, ordering Hasina to appear in Dhaka by June 16. Her absence has prompted Bangladesh to seek her extradition, with reports indicating a request for an Interpol red notice. An interpol red notice is a diplomatic notice served worldwide in order to formally extradiate someone wanted at large. Hasina has dismissed the charges as politically motivated, backed by her Awami League party, which faces a ban and accusations of enabling massacres.
The trial was broadcast live on the state-run Bangladesh Television for the first time. Prosecutors, led by Mohammad Tajul Islam, presented a 145 page indictment, alleging Hasina unleashed law enforcement and armed party members to suppress the uprising. The proceedings, however, were marred by an attack when unidentified individuals hurled crude bombs at the tribunal’s gate hours before the trial began.
Hasina has in the past criticized the tribunal in the past for it’s political ties, however given the fact that she was the one who established it, the accusations fell on deaf ears. If convicted, Hasina could face the death penalty, complicating Bangladesh’s diplomatic ties with India surrounding her refuge.
