Bangladesh Tribunal Begins ‘Genocide’ Probe Against Sheikh Hasina, 9 Others

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal has started an investigation against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and nine others on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity that took place from July 15 to August 5 during the students’ mass movement against her government.

A complaint was filed on Wednesday with the investigation agency of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal against Ms Hasina, Awami League general secretary and former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and several other prominent figures within the party.

The complainant’s lawyer Gazi MH Tamim confirmed on Thursday that the tribunal started the probe on Wednesday night.

Ms Hasina, 76, fled to India on August 5 after resigning from her post amidst unprecedented anti-government protests led by students.

The Hasina-led Awami League along with its affiliated organisations is also named in the petition.

The petition was filed by Bulbul Kabir, the father of Arif Ahmed Siam, a Class IX student who was killed during the anti-discrimination student movement.

“The (ICT-BD) investigation agency has started reviewing the charges… The accusation of genocide and crimes against humanity has been recorded as a case,” said the lawyer.

The application accuses Ms Hasina and others of orchestrating a violent crackdown on student protesters, resulting in widespread casualties and human rights violations.

He said the progress of this investigation outcome would be communicated to the tribunal – originally constituted to try the Bengali-speaking hardened collaborators of Pakistani troops during the 1971 Liberation War – within seven days.

He said that in line with the tribunal law, reports published in various media from July 16 to August 6 were submitted as necessary documents.

Separately, a case of enforced disappearance was filed on Wednesday against Ms Hasina and several others, including former ministers of her cabinet, on the charge of kidnapping a lawyer in 2015.

Meanwhile, a Dhaka court on Thursday asked police to submit by September 15 the probe report of the case filed against Ms Hasina and six others over the death of grocery shop owner Abu Saeed in police firing in the capital’s Mohammadpur area during the quota protests on July 19.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Zaki Al Farabi set the date after the case was placed before his court for the next course of action.

The development coincided with the now scrapped National Mourning Day holiday marking the August 15, 1975, assassination of Ms Hasina’s father and Bangladesh’s founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The interim government of Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus cancelled the holiday after discussions with different political parties.

According to media reports, some parties were in favour of keeping the mourning day holiday while others opposed it.

Unlike the previous years, no sombre wreath offering ceremony was held at Bangabandhu’s 32 Dhanmandi private residence, later turned into a memorial museum, which was set ablaze by angry mobs after Ms Hasina resigned and fled to India. 

“Nobody approves of it… but somebody’s (Ms Hasina’s regime) overdoing caused the overreaction,” ex-premier Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader and spokesman Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury earlier told PTI, referring to the attack on the museum.

‘She Is Responsible’

Political commentator and New Age newspaper editor Nurul Kabir, known for his stern criticism of the past regime, said Ms Hasina herself was responsible for the defamation of her father.

Mr Kabir added, “Who can deny his contribution to Bangladesh’s creation”.

“The blame lies with them (Ms Hasina’s regime or party),” he said.

Reports and witnesses said film actress Rokeya Prachi and several others tried to go to the museum to stage a sit-in but were dispersed by protesters.

A huge group of stick-wielding people on Thursday positioned themselves in front of the museum to bar anyone from paying tributes in front of Mujibur Rahman’s bust at Bangabandhu Bhaban.

“I went to pay my respects in the morning. But I could not place wreaths,” said a 1971 veteran and leader of Krishak Sramik Awami League, a party belonging to the opposition camp. He complained that brickbats were thrown at his car, damaging the vehicle.

The student-led protests demanding reforms in government job quotas evolved into a government-toppling movement in early August.

Over 230 people died in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, taking the number of people killed to 560 during the three weeks of violence.

Following Ms Hasina’s resignation, a caretaker government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed in the country, promising to address administrative and political reforms and hold those involved in the violence accountable