Bangladesh court charges former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with crimes against humanity

Bangladesh court charges former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with crimes against humanity

A Bangladeshi special court on Thursday formally indicted deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity over the deaths of protesters during a 2024 crackdown.

The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) indicted the ousted prime minister, who has been living in self-exile in India since her removal from office in August 2024, alongside two senior officials: former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Mamun.

Of the three, only Mamun has pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him, according to local media reports.

The charges stem from allegations that Hasina “incited, encouraged, and ordered” a nationwide police crackdown that led to the deaths of at least 1,500 people and injuries to more than 25,000, according to Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam.

Arrest warrants for all three were issued in June after the court formally accepted the charges, ten months after Hasina fled the country following weeks of escalating unrest. 

What began in June 2024 as peaceful, student-led protests against a “discriminatory” civil service quota system quickly turned into widespread violence.

According to UN estimates, more than 1,400 people were killed between July 1 and August 15, 2024.

On July 2, Hasina was sentenced in absentia to six months in jail by the ICT in a separate contempt of court case, marking the first formal conviction in any of the cases against her. The ruling followed the leak of a phone call in which she allegedly said, “227 cases have been filed against me, so I have been given a license to kill 227 people.”

The trial is scheduled to begin on August 3.