BANGLADESH’S former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is facing trial for allegedly orchestrating a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule in July 2024, prosecutors told the opening session of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Sunday.
According to the United Nations, more than 1,400 people were killed between July and August last year during operations carried out under Hasina’s administration, prompting accusations of state-led atrocities.
AFP cited Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of the ICT, told the tribunal that investigations revealed “a coordinated and systematic assault” intended to suppress mass dissent.
“The accused used all branches of law enforcement and armed party operatives to crush the uprising,” he said in his opening address.
Hasina, 77, fled to India by helicopter shortly after the uprising erupted, refusing to comply with an extradition request from Dhaka. India, a longstanding ally, has yet to respond formally. The Awami League, Hasina’s party, has since been banned by Bangladesh’s caretaker government.
Hasina, along with former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun (currently in custody) and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal (also in exile), faces charges of incitement, conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and failure to prevent what prosecutors describe as a “massacre” during the July crackdown.
Hasina has denied all charges, dismissing the trial as “politically motivated”.
The tribunal proceedings are being broadcast live on state television, underscoring the high public and political interest in the case. The prosecution has presented evidence including video and audio recordings, intercepted phone calls, drone footage, and testimonies from victims.
The ICT, originally established by Hasina’s own government in 2009 to prosecute crimes from the 1971 war of independence, has long been criticised by rights groups as a political tool. Several opposition leaders were sentenced to death under its purview.
On 25 May, the tribunal began its first trial involving Hasina’s former administration, charging eight police officers with crimes against humanity over the killing of six protesters on 5 August—the day Hasina fled the country. Four of the officers are currently in custody, while the others are being tried in absentia.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court reinstated the registration of Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party, earlier on Sunday. The party had been banned under Hasina’s rule but is now expected to contest the next general election, which the interim government has pledged to hold by June 2026.
In May, the caretaker government also officially banned the Awami League pending the outcome of the trial. - June 2, 2025
