 "Bangladesh's former premier Sheikh Hasina speaks during a meeting with foreign observers and journalists at the Prime Minister's residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on January 8, 2024. (Photo: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)")
After her conviction, Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus’s regime on Monday called for former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s extradition.
Bangladesh’s International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) convicted Hasina and sentenced her to death earlier in the day in a case related to her handling of her last year’s protests and street violence that ousted her. The tribunal also convicted and sentenced to death former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan.
In a statement in Bangla, Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said any country granting asylum to Hasina and Khan will be in violation of the international law.
“The tribunal has urged all nations to cooperate in arresting these two individuals and handing them over to Bangladeshi authorities. The tribunal has also requested the United Nations to take necessary measures to ensure their extradition to Bangladesh,” the statement read.
Hasina fled to India on August 5, 2024, when violence spiralled out of control and has since stayed in the country. Khan is also understood to be living in India.
Hasina rejected the judgement as one by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate”.
“In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove Bangladesh’s last elected prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League as a political force,” said Hasina in a statement.
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View AllPreviously, Hasina had dismissed the ICT as a kangaroo court and dubbed Yunus as a front for extremists.
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The ICT convincted Hasina and Khan on five charges: provocative speeches; orders to kill protesters with lethal weapons; shooting dead Abu Sayeed, a student at Begum Rokeya University, in Rangpur; shooting of six people in Dhaka’s Chankharpul area; and burning to death six others in Ashulia.
“Sheikh Hasina has committed crimes against humanity. Six protesters at Chankharpul were killed using lethal weapons on August 5. By issuing orders and through the inaction of Sheikh Hasina, the then Home Minister, and the IG of police, the students were killed. These killings happened under the orders and full knowledge of PM Sheikh Hasina. By such acts, they committed crimes against humanity,” the ICT’s verdict read.
Previously, Bangladesh’s Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam had described Hasina as the “mastermind and principal architect” of last year’s violence.
Islam had said that Hasina should ideally be sentenced to death 1,400 times for deaths of 1,400 people during last year’s protests. But, since that is not possible, he said, Hasina should be sentenced at least once.
“We demand the highest punishment for her. For a single murder, one death penalty is the rule. For 1,400 murders, she should be sentenced 1,400 times but since that is not humanly possible, we demand at least one,” said Islam.