THE nation’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina masterminded a deadly crackdown on mass protests that prompted her ouster last year, prosecutors at a domestic war crimes tribunal said.
Up to 1,400 people died in July 2024 when Hasina’s government launched a brutal campaign to silence the opposition, according to the United Nations.
She lives in self-imposed exile in India and has defied an arrest warrant from Dhaka over charges of crimes against humanity.
“The investigation team has found Sheikh Hasina culpable in at least five charges,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal, said.
“They have brought charges of abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy and failure to prevent mass murder during the July uprising.”
He said the prosecution had submitted its first report to be presented at the court set to try Hasina and two aides – ex-home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and ex-police chief Abdullah Al Mamun. — AFP
