DHAKA ( WNAM MONITORING): Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to neighboring India in the face of a popular uprising on August 5, has been charged as the primary suspect in the killing of 848 people during last year’s uprising.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) filed a complaint on Thursday with the International Crimes Tribunal, a local court established by Hasina’s administration to try crimes against humanity.
The tribunal has already issued two separate arrest warrants against Hasina for mass killings and forced disappearances of political opponents, and it has asked the relevant authorities to issue a red arrest warrant through Interpol because Hasina is outside of its jurisdiction.
The party’s case data and coordination chief, Md Salauddin Khan, said in a statement that a complaint has been filed with the tribunal, making Hasina the main accused in the alleged killing of 848 leaders and activists of the BNP and its associate organizations during the July-August protests.
Key ministers from the then-Hasina government, including those in charge of home affairs, law, and information, as well as senior police officials, have also been charged.
The BNP has also submitted a list, audio, videos, and copies of 84 case reports to the tribunal, Khan said, adding that the party wants justice for the murders.
The development came a day after the UN human rights office’s 114-page report estimated that up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August of last year, 12% of whom were children, and more than 22,000 were injured during the uprising against Hasina’s government.
During the student-led protests, Bangladesh’s former Awami League government, security, and intelligence services committed several serious human rights violations, raising concerns about crimes against humanity that require immediate criminal investigation, according to the report.
After Hasina fled, Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus took office as head of a transitional government on Aug. 8.
The report also documented instances of retaliatory killings and other serious revenge violence targeting Awami League officials and supporters, police, and media as the Hasina government started to lose control of the country.
Separately, the transitional government on Thursday formed a “national consensus commission” with Yunus as its chief to build consensus, including on the recommendations of the six reform commissions in the government efforts on reform agendas.
The commission will begin its job on Feb. 15 for the next six months.
