Sheikh Hasina indicted for crimes against humanity, Yunus-formed tribunal accepts charges

A special tribunal on Thursday indicted Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by accepting charges of crimes against humanity filed against her in connection with a mass uprising in which hundreds of students were killed last year.

A three-member panel, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, indicted Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun on five charges. Hasina and Khan are being tried in absentia.

The tribunal opened the trial on June. 5 and had asked Hasina to appear before it. Authorities published newspaper advertisements asking Hasina, who has been in exile in India, and Khan to appear before the tribunal.

Hasina has been in exile since Aug. 5, 2024. Bangladesh’s interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, sent a formal request to India for Hasina’s extradition, but India has not responded.

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Khan is possibly also in India. Al-Mamun was arrested and was in the dock on Thursday while the judges indicted them.

On Thursday, Al-Mamun pleaded guilty and told the tribunal that he would make a statement in favor of the prosecution at a later stage. The prosecution offered a leaked audio of Hasina and other documents as evidence to the tribunal.

The tribunal later fixed Aug. 3 for the opening statement by the prosecution and Aug. 4 for recording witnesses’ statements.