At the start of her trial over the deadly crackdown that led to last year’s trial, Bangladeshi prosecutors claimed that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina planned a “systematic attack” against protests against her government.
In his opening statement on Sunday, Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), Mohammad Tajul Islam, the chief prosecutor, told the court that “we came to the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread, and systematic attack.”
As he accused the 77-year-old former leader and two other officials of “abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder” during the student-led mass uprising, Islam said, “The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising.”
Nearly 1,400 Bangladeshis were killed between July and August 2024, according to the UN, as a result of Hasina’s government’s brutal campaign to silence the protesters. Bangladesh has charged her with crimes against humanity in relation to the killings.
Hasina, her former ally and self-imposed exile in neighboring India, has refuted the accusations as politically motivated.
Following the nationwide demonstrations that ended her “autocratic” 15-year rule, which was alleged to have included repeated human rights violations, including attacks, imprisonment, and even targeted killings of opposition figures, dissenters, and critics, she flew by helicopter to New Delhi in August of last year.
Since then, she has defied both an arrest warrant and an extradition order.
Former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun are also facing charges from the ICT in relation to the ousted Hasina government and her now-banned Awami League party.
Numerous political parties are now vying for control, demanding their prosecution. Elections will be held before June 2026, according to the interim government.
The court is scheduled to file formal charges on Sunday after the prosecution submitted its report on the case against Hasina last month.
Hasina is accused of “abetting, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy, and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising,” according to ICT chief prosecutor Tajul Islam on May 12.
As part of their investigation, investigators have gathered audio and video recordings of Hasina’s phone conversations, records of helicopter and drone movements, as well as statements from the crackdown victims.
On May 25, the ICT’s first trial involving the previous government began. Eight police officers are facing crimes against humanity for the killing of six protesters on August 5, 2024, the day Hasina fled the country.
Four of the officers are being held in custody, and four are awaiting in absentia trial.
Source: Aljazeera
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