The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of Bangladesh on Sunday indicted former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for ordering police action against protesters last year, and directed the authorities in Bangladesh to produce her before the tribunal on June 16.
The proceedings of the tribunal came nearly ten months after Ms. Hasina left Bangladesh and took refuge in India on August 5, 2024. The ICT has issued warrants to arrest Ms. Hasina and former Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. Former Bangladesh Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun was also indicted.
The ICT is a domestic war crimes tribunal which Ms. Hasina’s government had set up in 2010, primarily to prosecute those accused of collaborating with Pakistan in 1971.
‘Systematic attack’
“We do hereby take into cognizance the charges,” the ICT’s three-judge bench said, after a prosecution team argued that as Prime Minister, Ms. Hasina had overseen a “systematic attack” against students and common people who were demanding that she step down from power.
The tribunal’s verdict, telecast live on state-run BTV, came as the result of multiple cases lodged against Ms. Hasina by the victims of police violence in July and August 2024, when an anti-quota movement led by students quickly turned into a wider “single-agenda movement” to overthrow Ms. Hasina.
During the last stages of her government, a video went viral on social media showing Mr. Kamal inspecting the police crackdown. The video was cited by the interim administration as a proof of the former Home Minister’s involvement in the violent crackdown.
Strain on bilateral ties
Ms. Hasina’s presence in India was confirmed by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. On August 6, 2024, he had briefed both Houses of Parliament about the Union government’s decision to grant her refuge on short notice due to the volatile developments in Bangladesh.
Bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh have been uneasy since last August because of Ms. Hasina’s presence in India. The ICT’s demand to Dhaka’s interim government to produce Ms. Hasina before the tribunal is expected to exacerbate frictions in the relationship.
Mr. Kamal’s location is not known, though it is believed that he has also been living abroad. Mr. Al Mamun is currently in police custody in Dhaka, as he was arrested along with former IGP A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque on September 4, 2024.
ICT’s mixed record
The ICT faced a setback last week after A.T.M. Azharul Islam, a leader of the Al Badr militia and the Jamat-e-Islami of Bangladesh, was acquitted by an appellate bench of the Bangladesh Supreme Court. Mr. Islam had been given a death sentence by the ICT in 2014 but the appellate bench of the Supreme Court overturned the ICT’s verdict on May 27
