Bangladesh Issues Arrest Warrants for Former PM Sheikh Hasina in Enforced Disappearance Cases

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 78, is now facing multiple legal challenges in her home country following her ousting from power last year.

A special tribunal in Bangladesh issued arrest warrants on Wednesday against Sheikh Hasina and 29 other individuals on charges of crimes against humanity related to alleged enforced disappearances that occurred during her Awami League government.

The three-member International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) panel, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mojumder, acknowledged the charges and ordered arrest warrants for all those accused in the case, according to a prosecutor's statement.

This tribunal, which was originally established to prosecute collaborators with Pakistani forces during Bangladesh's 1971 Liberation War, has now targeted Hasina and 29 others, primarily former military officers who were deployed in intelligence agencies.

The prosecutor explained that the charges involving enforced disappearances were filed under two separate cases, both naming Hasina as a principal defendant. She is currently being tried in absentia for alleged crimes against humanity.

Mohammad Tajul Islam, the ICT-BD's chief prosecutor who previously served as a key defense attorney in collaborator trials, stated that Hasina and her former defense adviser, Major General Tarique Siddique, are primary suspects in cases of abduction and torture of detainees.

Among the accused are five former directors general of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, an agency primarily staffed by army, navy and air force officers. Several officials from the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion, which draws personnel from all three armed services and police, are also named.

The chief prosecutor presented detailed accounts to the tribunal regarding allegations of abduction, secret detention, and torture of individuals with opposing political or ideological views, reportedly committed during the Awami League government's tenure.

Key civilian defendants include former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former police chief Benazir Ahmed, and former RAB chiefs M Khurshid Hossain and Harun ur Rashid.

The warrants were issued as the accused are reportedly fugitives, with Hasina residing in India since her Awami League government was overthrown on August 5 last year following widespread protests.

The ICT has scheduled October 22 as the date for the accused to appear before the court.