Did Hasina commit crimes against humanity? Bangladesh tribunal will tell on Nov 17

A special tribunal in Bangladesh announced on Thursday that it will deliver its verdict on November 17 in a case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who faces charges of crimes against humanity linked to last year’s July Uprising.

Hasina, 78, is among several accused in multiple cases filed since her ouster in August 2024, following a mass student-led movement. A UN human rights report estimated that up to 1,400 people were killed between July 15 and August 15 last year, when her government allegedly ordered a harsh security crackdown on protesters.

Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, chairing a three-member panel of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD), set the date for the verdict, a lawyer present at the heavily guarded court in Dhaka told PTI.

Hasina, along with her then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, was charged in the case. The ex-premier and Kamal were tried in absentia after being declared fugitives by the court.

Chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam has sought the death penalty for Hasina, describing her as the “mastermind and principal architect” of the alleged atrocities committed during the July Uprising.

Hasina’s supporters say the charges against her are politically motivated.

Mamun faced the trial in person but emerged as an approver or state witness.

The former police chief appeared on the dock as the ICT-BD chair Justice Majumder fixed the date.

The tribunal on October 23 concluded the hearing on the case after over 28 working days, when 54 witnesses testified before the court describing how efforts were made to tame last year’s student-led movement called July Uprising that toppled Hasina’s now disbanded Awami League government on August 5, 2024.

Hasina fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year amid escalating unrest and is currently residing in India. Kamal reportedly also took refuge in the neighbouring country.

The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has sought Hasina’s extradition, but India has yet to respond to the request.

Security in the capital was heightened over the “Dhaka lockdown” call by the Awami League, coinciding with the tribunal’s announcement of the verdict date.

Authorities called up army troops, paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and police in riot gear to spread a security blanket in and around the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) complex at central Dhaka.

Witnesses and reports said Dhaka streets looked unusually empty, though many commuters stepped out of their homes and cautiously headed for workplaces and schools.

However, many private institutions, including private universities, preferred to operate online, fearing the outbreak of violence.

Transport operators said passenger numbers on long-haul buses leaving Dhaka dropped sharply, while the capital’s major Gabtoli bus terminal remained largely empty with fewer trips and delayed departures.

Hasina and the two others were accused of committing crimes under five counts, with the first one alleging the defendants of murder, attempted murder, torture, and other inhumane acts.

The second count accused Hasina of ordering the “extermination” of protesters. Under the third count, she was accused of making inflammatory remarks and ordering the use of deadly weapons against protesting students.

Under the rest of the counts, the defendants were charged with the shooting and murder of six unarmed protesters, including students in Dhaka and its suburbs.

In several recent interviews with major international news outlets and the Indian media, Hasina called the ICT-BD a “kangaroo court” run entirely by men linked to her political opponents.

In an emailed interview to PTI published on Wednesday, Hasina said she was prepared to stand trial under international supervision “even at the International Criminal Court” in The Hague, but alleged that Yunus has avoided such a process because an impartial tribunal would acquit her.

“I have repeatedly challenged Yunus’ government to prosecute me in the International Criminal Court, if it is so confident of its case. Yunus continues to duck this challenge because he knows that the ICC, a genuinely impartial tribunal, would certainly acquit me,” she said.

UK-based leading law firm Doughty House Chambers recently submitted an “urgent appeal” to the United Nations, saying Hasina was being tried in “an environment charged with political vengeance, under an unelected interim government with no democratic mandate”.

Last month, the Awami League filed a petition with the Hague-based ICC, accusing the Yunus-led interim administration of crimes against humanity, including killings and arbitrary arrests of its members.

Former foreign minister in Hasina’s cabinet, AK Abdul Momen, who previously served as Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the United Nations, last month sent a letter to the UN Human Rights Council, detailing allegations of “political suppression, enforced disappearances, cases against military officers, impunity for criminals, and attacks on journalists”.

The ICT-BD was formed by the past government to try hardened collaborators of the Pakistani troops during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War, when Tajul appeared as a key lawyer to defend the accused.

Yunus’s administration amended the ICT-BD law to try the leaders of the past regime, including Hasina, appointing Tajul as its chief prosecutor.

Most Awami League leaders and key figures of the past government are now in jail or on the run at home and abroad.

With inputs from agencies