Delhi think tank to move ICC against Bangladesh's Yunus: 'Awami League workers hacked to death in Taliban style'

A Delhi-based think tank, the Rights and Risks Analysis Group (RRAG), has opened a front against Bangladesh’s interim government led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus over the alleged deaths of 123 members of Bangladesh‘s Awami League and its affiliated organisations.

Yunus has been leading the South Asian nation since Awami League’s Sheikh Hasina was ousted last August following a student-led uprising.

Calling Yunus government’s alleged actions a “crime against humanity”, the RRAG said it would file a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

‘Taliban-style’ killing

The RRAG claimed that among the deceased are at least 41 Awami League members who were reportedly hacked to death, sometimes by throat-slitting in a “Taliban-style” manner. Moreover, it said 21 others died while in the custody of the interim government.

“These murders of the Awami League members are just tip of the iceberg as not all the murders of the Awami League members were reported in the local media, and further the RRAG was not able to monitor the local media. It is however clear even children, women, mentally unstable, and maimed were not spared,” Suhas Chakma, Director of the RRAG, said in a statement.

In its detailed report, the RRAG listed several instances of extreme violence against workers of the Awami League, with victims including children, women and even mentally unstable persons.

Here are some of the cases mentioned by the group:

On December 5, 2024, Arina Begum was allegedly hacked to death while praying because her son, a Chhatra League president, was in hiding. This incident is part of a wave of violence targeting people linked to the Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League.

On September 19, 2024, Tofazzal Hossain, a mentally unstable former member of the Kathaltoli Union Chhatra League, was beaten to death by a student mob at Dhaka University’s Fazlul Huq Muslim Hall. Suspected of stealing cellphones, Tofazzal, who had a master’s degree in accounting, was tortured for hours, briefly fed at the canteen, and then beaten again until he died. Six students, including a former Chhatra League leader, were arrested, and the university filed a murder case.

On September 8, 2024, Abdullah Al Masud, a former Rajshahi University Chhatra League leader and store officer at the university’s medical centre, was beaten to death by a mob in Binodpur Bazar, near the campus, while buying medicine for his newborn daughter.

“The shrill political rhetoric by political opponents, including Jamaat-I-Islami, Bangladesh National Party, the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, and the top leadership of the Interim Government headed by Dr. Mohammed Yunus, effectively encouraged vengeance against the Awami League,” Chakma added.

The think tank also drew a parallel between the Bangladesh crisis and “crimes against humanity committed in the context of post-election violence in Kenya in 2007/2008,” a crisis that the ICC previously investigated.

The group said the issue would also be raised with London, ahead of Yunus’s scheduled visit to the UK from June 10.