Bangladesh ex-PM Sheikh Hasina indicted for crimes against humanity over student uprising
A special tribunal in Bangladesh has indicted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity in connection with a violent crackdown on student-led protests that left hundreds dead last year.
The tribunal, led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, also charged former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. Hasina and Khan, both currently in exile in India, are being tried in absentia, News.Az reports, citing CNN.
The charges accuse Hasina of orchestrating and commanding mass killings, violence against civilians, and the incineration of bodies during the 2024 uprising. Prosecutors described her as the “mastermind, conductor, and superior commander” of the crackdown. The tribunal rejected a petition to remove her name from the case and set August 3 for opening statements.
Hasina’s party, the Awami League, condemned the trial as politically motivated, calling the tribunal a “kangaroo court” and accusing the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus of using the judiciary to persecute political opponents.
Co-accused Al-Mamun pleaded guilty and requested to testify for the prosecution as an approver, potentially in exchange for a lighter sentence.
The interim government has banned the Awami League and initiated sweeping legal reforms to enable prosecution of the former ruling party. UN estimates suggest up to 1,400 people were killed during the 2024 crackdown, which culminated in Hasina’s ousting on August 5.
Earlier this month, Hasina received a six-month contempt of court sentence after a leaked audio recording appeared to show her claiming a "license to kill" 227 people.
Ironically, the same tribunal prosecuting Hasina was originally established by her government in 2009 to try war crimes from Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war—one led by her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
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