By Staff Correspondent, Dhaka – A special tribunal in Bangladesh has begun opening statement and the commencement of the first witness testimony against Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in a case related to the violent suppression of mass uprising that led to the fall of her government last year.
The judicial procedure of the International Crimes Tribunal was broadcast live on state-run Bangladesh Television, first such effort by any Bangladeshi court.
In his opening statement, Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam said Hasina was the nucleus of all crimes committed during the last year’s mass uprising.
Beforehand, Attorney General Mohammad Asasduzzaman told the tribunal that Hasina deserved to be awarded with the highest penalty as per the law.
Alongside Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former Inspector General of Police Abdullah Al Mamun was accused in the case filed over committing crimes against humanity during the suppression of the last year’s protest.
The trial proceeds in absentia for Hasina and Khan, who were indicted in the case on July 10 by the tribunal in Dhaka.
Mamun, now in custody, however, has pleaded guilty and become a prosecution witness or ‘approver’. An approver, according to the law, is a defendant who admits guilt and reveals the true circumstances of the incident; generally known as a witness for the prosecution.
What began in July 2024 as demonstrations demanding the abolition of the public job quota system evolved into a nationwide uprising that culminated in the ouster of Hasina’s government on August 5, 2024.
Hasina, who fled to India following her removal from power, is now facing multiple cases tied to the violent crackdown. A UN fact-finding mission estimates that approximately 1,400 people were killed during the protests.
“The crimes committed in Bangladesh during the protests are widespread and systematic, clearly constituting crimes against humanity,” Tajul Islam, Chief Prosecutor of the tribunal told the court in his earlier submission.
He said five charges have been raised against the accused, including incitement, provocation, issuing orders to kill people, superior command responsibility and participation in a joint criminal enterprise.
To support these allegations, the prosecution has submitted audio recordings purportedly documenting Hasina instructing security forces to use lethal weapons against demonstrators, along with other forms of evidence and witness testimonies.
Islam told reporters that the nature of the crimes was systematic, as they were executed in a coordinated manner across the country under a unified command.
“The directive came from the then prime minister, and the chain of command was followed by police and auxiliary forces in carrying out identical acts nationwide,” he said.
This marks the formal beginning of the first trial against Hasina for alleged crimes against humanity.
The proceedings are taking place in the tribunal that her administration established in 2010 to prosecute individuals accused of atrocities during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
Hasina has been accused the three other cases filed with the tribunal. Among them, on July 2, the tribunal sentenced her to six months of simple imprisonment in a contempt of court case.
Another case related to committing crimes against humanity has been filed against Hasina and 10 others for disappearances, killings, and tortures during her rule. The investigation report for this case is scheduled to be submitted on August 24.
She is also a defendant in cases related to the alleged killing and persecution of Hefazat-e-Islam leaders and workers in Motijheel’s Shapla Chattar during the handling of an Islamists’ rally in Dhaka in May 2013. The investigation report in these cases is expected to be submitted by August 12.
