Bangladesh begins Sheikh Hasina trial on mass murder charges
DHAKA: Prosecutors at Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Sunday formally charged former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and two others with crimes against humanity and other charges, including mass murder, for their alleged role in a violent crackdown last year in which hundreds of people were killed.
The other two charged for the crimes with Hasina are former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former inspector general of police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun.
"We do hereby take into cognisance the charges," the three-judge ICT bench led by Justice Golam Mortuza Majumdar said after a prosecution team accused them of attempting to tame the student-led protests using brutal force. The tribunal ordered investigators to present all three accused before the court on June 16.
Mamun is in police custody. Hasina and Kamal are residing abroad.
Sunday's proceedings marked the start of Hasina's trial in absentia nearly 10 months after the ouster of her government following protests. Under ICT law, if convicted, Hasina and the co-accused could face the death penalty.
Proceedings aired live, a first for Bangladesh
The proceedings were broadcast live on television for the first time in Bangladesh's history.
The complaint, submitted by chief prosecutor Tajul Islam, outlined five counts of alleged crimes, including murder, attempted murder, torture and other inhumane acts.
The accused are also charged with abetting, inciting, facilitating and being complicit in, as well as failing to prevent, a series of crimes reportedly committed against civilians by law enforcement agencies and armed affiliates of the Awami League.
One count specifically refers to a violent crackdown on unarmed student demonstrators, which allegedly followed a press briefing by Hasina on July 14. Prosecutors claim that in the aftermath, Kamal, IGP Mamun and other senior government officials were directly involved in enabling and overseeing the assault.
'Upon reviewing the evidence, we concluded that it was a coordinated, widespread and systematic attack,' Islam told the court.
'The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her (Hasina's) armed party members to crush the uprising.'
The ICT was set up by Hasina in 2009 to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's war for independence in 1971. Six top leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and one leader of former PM Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party were hanged to death after being convicted by the court. According to a UN rights office report, some 1,400 people were killed between July 15 and Aug 15 last year as violence continued even after the fall of Hasina's Awami League regime.
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