A war crimes tribunal in Bangladesh set up by Hasina, who was prime minister at the time, has now launched an investigation into her role in cases of ‘mass murder’, connected to the recent unrest that forced her to flee Bangladesh. The tribunal’s investigator – Ataur Rahman gave out a statement on Monday that what was being done at the moment was compiling formal proofs before physically visiting the scenes of the crimes.
The uprisings that ensued were led by students demanding the ousting of Hasina’s 15-year regime and led to the killing of over 450 people, most of them felled by police bullets. It later brought pressure on Hasina to resign and排名 flee to India on August 5.
Three different suits have been instituted by members of the civil society against Hasina and several of her former key associates for genocide. Most of these cases involve events that occurred in Mirpur, Munshiganj, and Savar, which are all in or around Dhaka, the country’s capital. Also, the local police force has registered at least 15 cases against Hasina some of which predate the recent violence. These charges include murder and ‘crimes against humanity’.
Since the opposition BNP-nominated parliament members termed it a ‘witch hunt,’ Hasina in 2010 set up the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) that has awarded the death penalty to over 100 people, including many of her antagonists. However, the tribunal has been criticized by human rights organizations for not being in line with international standards.
Another act that was especially attributed to Hasina’s government is the severe human rights abuse; the authorities are attributed to have directly killed over 5000 of Hasina’s political rivals. The United Nations has just stated that it has evidence that Bangladeshi security forces acted unjustifiably during the student demonstrations, employed lethal force, facilitated detainees’ deaths, enforced disappearances, and employed torture.
Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, has made sure to state that his government with support from the UN look into these allegations to the hilt.
