Crime

Sheikh Hasina faces tribunal investigations for alleged war crimes

Hasina is the target of at least 15 complaints that local police departments around Bangladesh have filed.

According to AFP on Monday, Sheikh Hasina faces tribunal investigation as the tribunal, which was originally set up by the deposed former prime minister to look into war crimes in Bangladesh, has opened three investigations into the accusations of mass murder made against her.

The tribunal is focused on the turmoil that resulted in over 450 deaths during a month of student-led protests, with many of those deaths being caused by police shooting. The tribunal is looking into the violence that preceded Hasina’s departure from Bangladesh.

On August 5, Sheikh Hasina announced her resignation as prime minister and escaped to India. The deputy head of the tribunal’s investigative cell, Ataur Rahman, states that preliminary evidence is presently being gathered for these inquiries, which are being described as having to do with “mass murder.”

Sheikh Hasina Faces Tribunal Investigation
Image Source: Council of Women World Leaders

Sheikh Hasina Faces Tribunal Investigation: The Role of the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal

According to Hindustan Times, the lawsuits were started by private citizens and have also implicated a number of Hasina’s former senior advisers. The investigations center on violent incidents that take place in and around Savar, Munshiganj, and Mirpur, the capital of Bangladesh.

Furthermore, Hasina is the target of at least 15 complaints that local police departments around Bangladesh have filed. These cases, some including murder accusations and others involving “crimes against humanity,” were filed before the recent uprising. Hasina’s 2010 establishment of the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is renowned for looking into crimes during the nation’s independence struggle against Pakistan.

Almost 100 people, including many political opponents, have received death sentences by the ICT under Hasina’s administration. Nonetheless, media reports state that human rights organizations have criticized the ICT for failing to abide by international agreements.

Many human rights violations, including the extrajudicial death of thousands of political opponents, have been attributed to the Hasina-led administration. The Bangladeshi security forces appear to have resorted to disproportionate force in reaction to the student-led rebellion, as the United Nations stated on Friday.

In its preliminary assessment, the UN Human Rights Office cited a number of suspected crimes that call for independent further investigation, including extrajudicial murders, arbitrary arrests and detentions, forced disappearances, torture, and ill-treatment.

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