DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A special tribunal has formally indicted Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, accepting the charges of crimes against humanity linked to a mass uprising last year resulting in the deaths of hundreds of students. The tribunal's three-member panel, led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, has also indicted former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun on five charges. Notably, Hasina and Khan are being tried in absentia as they are currently not present in the country.
The trial commenced on June 5, with the tribunal requesting Hasina to appear. Authorities have made attempts to locate her in exile in India, including publishing newspaper advertisements urging her and Khan to attend the tribunal. Hasina has been in exile since August 5, and Bangladesh’s interim government, under Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has formally requested her extradition from India, which has thus far not responded to the request. It is speculated that Khan is also in India.
During Thursday's proceedings, Al-Mamun was present and pleaded guilty, expressing his willingness to provide a statement in support of the prosecution at a later date. The prosecution has presented evidence, including a leaked audio recording of Hasina and various documentation, to support the charges against her.
Amir Hossain, a state-appointed lawyer for Hasina and Khan, attended the hearing and submitted a petition to exclude their names from the case. However, the tribunal rejected this plea. The tribunal has scheduled the prosecution's opening statement for August 3 and plans to record witness statements on August 4.
Hasina and her Awami League party have previously criticized the tribunal and its prosecution for alleged ties to political rivals, particularly the Jamaat-e-Islami party. The prosecution issued five charges, claiming that Hasina was directly responsible for ordering state forces and her party to commit mass killings, inflict injuries, engage in targeted violence against women and children, incinerate bodies, and deny medical treatment to the wounded.
The charges portray Hasina as the “mastermind, conductor, and superior commander” of these atrocities. The interim government has taken significant steps, including banning the Awami League party and amending laws enabling the former ruling party's trial regarding the events of the uprising.
In a report issued in February, the U.N. human rights office estimated that up to 1,400 individuals may have been killed during intense crackdowns on student-led protests against Hasina, which unfolded over three weeks, subsequent to her ousting on August 5.
This month, the tribunal imposed a six-month jail sentence on Hasina for contempt of court, citing her alleged claim to possess a “license to kill” regarding 227 individuals. This sentence marks the first sentencing against Hasina since her exodus to India. The contempt case derives from a leaked audio conversation purporting to be Hasina discussing her legal troubles.
The tribunal, established by Hasina in 2009, was designed to investigate and prosecute crimes related to Bangladesh's War of Independence against Pakistan in 1971. It has mainly prosecuted politicians from the Jamaat-e-Islami party for their actions during the nine-month conflict. Bangladesh gained its independence with support from India, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina's father and the nation's first leader.
