Dhaka [Bangladesh]: Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has completed the trial proceedings against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over alleged crimes against humanity and will announce its verdict on November 13, Dhaka Tribune reported.
Hasina is accused of overseeing torture and enforced disappearances during the Awami League’s rule. She was ousted in a student-led uprising in August 2024 and later fled the country. Following her departure, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus assumed charge as head of an interim government.
According to Dhaka Tribune, Hasina’s state-appointed lawyer Md Amir Hossain stated that his client did not flee to escape the charges but was “forced to leave” due to the circumstances following the anti-discrimination student movement. “Sheikh Hasina did not wish to leave the country. She said, ‘If necessary, give me the soil here, kill me, but I will not go.’ However, the situation compelled her to leave by helicopter, in full view of the public. She did not run away in hiding,” Hossain argued in court.
Defending Hasina, he added: “To qualify as a crime against humanity, there must be intent to annihilate a group or community—as Hitler did with the Jews. That is not the case here. Both sides seek justice, but it is the tribunal’s duty to ensure it.”
Earlier, on October 8, the ICT issued arrest warrants against 30 individuals, including Hasina, in two separate cases related to enforced disappearances during her tenure. The tribunal directed that all accused be produced before the court by October 22. The three-member bench was headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder.
Alongside Hasina, warrants were issued against former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, retired Major General Tariq Ahmed Siddique (her former defence adviser), former police chief Benzir Ahmed, and 27 other retired or serving army officers.
Thursday marked the final day of defence arguments in the case concerning crimes against humanity during the July–August 2024 student movement.
In one of the two cases, 17 individuals, including Hasina and Siddique, are accused of abducting opposition activists and detaining them at the Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) Cell, allegedly run by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), where detainees were reportedly tortured.
In the second case, Hasina, Siddique, and 11 others are accused of holding victims at the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI)’s Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) and subjecting them to torture. This case includes five specific charges of crimes against humanity and names five former DGFI directors general among the accused.
On October 22, the tribunal also ordered 15 serving army officers accused of orchestrating disappearances during Hasina’s tenure to be sent to jail.
