Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has called out the International Crimes Tribunal’s death sentence for ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, questioning why chief advisor Muhammad Yunus and his aides haven’t faced similar scrutiny after last year’s student uprising that toppled Hasina’s regime.
Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has lashed out at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT)’s ruling against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, asking why she was being considered a criminal and not chief advisor Muhammad Yunus and his “jihadist forces”.
In a landmark verdict, the ICT on Monday sentenced Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity, including the killing of multiple people during last year’s student uprising, which ultimately led to the collapse of her government.
In a post on X late Monday, Nasreen, who has been living in exile in India since 1994, took a dig at Yunus’s regime, questioning why “terrorists” who ordered to shoot at protesters were not being brought to justice.
“The actions for which Hasina has been declared unjust by Yunus and his jihadi forces – when Yunus and those same jihadi forces commit the very same actions, they declare them to be just,” the 63-year-old author said, adding when will “farce in name of justice” end in Bangladesh.
“When someone commits acts of sabotage and the current government orders them to be shot, the government does not call itself a criminal. So why is Hasina being considered a criminal for giving the order last July to shoot those who committed acts of sabotage?” she wrote.
For those unversed, Nasreen was forced to leave Bangladesh in 1994 after getting death threats from Islamist fundamentalists over her book ‘Lajja’, which was banned in the country, but became a bestseller elsewhere. She has been living in India since then.
In recent months, Nasreen has taken a critical stance on Yunus’s regime, accusing it of committing “crimes against humanity” following Hasina’s ouster. She has demanded that the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to Yunus in 2006, be withdrawn, and that he should be jailed for life.
Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with the Grameen Bank which he founded, for their efforts to create economic and social development through the pioneering concepts of microcredit and microfinance.
ICT RULING AGAINST SHEIKH HASINA
Hasina, the 78-year-old Awami League chief, currently living in exile in Delhi since her ouster on August 5 last year following massive anti-government protests, was found guilty on three charges: incitement to violence, issuing orders to kill protesters and failing to prevent atrocities during the student-led uprising.
Former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan was also sentenced to death, while former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun received five years in prison after becoming a state witness and pleading guilty.
The landmark ruling, arriving months ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for early February, is expected to reshape Bangladesh’s political landscape. Hasina’s Awami League has been barred from contesting the polls, and analysts warn the verdict could trigger fresh unrest.
A defiant Hasina called the ruling “biased, politically motivated” and issued by a “rigged tribunal with no democratic mandate”. On the other hand, Yunus praised the verdict, saying that no one, regardless of power, was above the law.
