Bangladesh Protests : Sheikh Hasina Charged With Crimes Against Humanity, Prosecutors Accuse Her Of Orchestrating ‘Systematic Attack’
New Delhi : Bangladesh prosecutors on Sunday charged former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with crimes against humanity for her alleged role in the violent crackdowns during the 2024 student-led uprising, which culminated in the resignation and flight of the Awami League leader.
“These killings were planned,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, Chief Prosecutor at Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), said during a televised hearing on Sunday, citing video evidence and encrypted communications between various agencies, according to news agency Bloomberg. “Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack. The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising,” the Chief Prosecutor was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.
The charges against Hasina come weeks after the interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, banned all activities of the Awami League under the Anti-Terrorism Act following days of protests. This development also unfolds amid increasing pressure on the Yunus administration and widespread calls for an immediate election in the country. In early 2024, what began as a student-led protest against a controversial government job quota system rapidly escalated into a broader demand for Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, fuelled by widespread public outrage over alleged corruption, authoritarianism, human rights abuses, and unfair elections during her nearly 15-year rule.
At the height of the massive and sustained protests, Sheikh Hasina resigned on August 5, 2024, and fled to India, where she has been residing since. According to United Nations estimates, nearly 1,400 Bangladeshis were killed between July and August 2024 during a government-led crackdown on protesters, orchestrated by Hasina’s administration with support from the then-opposition Bangladeshi Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allied groups.
