Sheikh Hasina charged with ‘crimes against humanity’ as trial begins in Bangladesh

The prosecutors of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh formally charged former prime minister Sheikh Hasina with crimes against humanity along with former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun for the violent crackdown on the July 2024 uprising led by students.

Hasina has rejected the charges as politically motivated. Bangladesh Television (BTV), the country’s national broadcaster, telecast the proceedings live.

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.

The 2024 student-led uprising that ultimately led to her ouster. The trial of the 77-year-old leader, currently living in self-imposed exile in India, began on Sunday.

Mohammad Tajul Islam, the chief prosecutor at Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), alleged that Hasina orchestrated a “systemic attack” on protests against her government.

“Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack,” Islam told the court in his opening statement, said a Dhaka Tribune report.

“The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising.”

After taking the charges into cognisance, the tribunal directed investigators to produce all three accused before the court on June 16. Hasina and Kamal are absconding, while ex-IGP Mamun is already in custody.

Sheikh Hasina’s 16-year rule in Bangladesh ended on August 5 last year after a violent uprising. Hasina resigned and fled to India after the protesters almost converged on her official residence in Dhaka.

She faces multiple cases in Bangladeshi courts, where she is accused of numerous charges like mass murders and crimes against humanity and enforced disappearances.

In a first, Bangladesh’s ICT allowed state-run BTV to broadcast the hearing of the case against the former prime minister.

Islam brought charges of “abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising” against Hasina and the two men.

“This is not an act of vendetta, but a commitment to the principle that, in a democratic country, there is no room for crimes against humanity,” he said.

The investigators have gathered video footage, audio recordings, Hasina’s phone calls, documentation of helicopter and drone activity, along with testimonies from victims of the crackdown in their investigation.

The case listed 81 people as witnesses, Islam said.