Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi/Dhaka: Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party on Tuesday announced nationwide agitations and "resistance marches" till November 30 in protest against the death sentence handed to the former premier by what it described as an "illegal" tribunal.
On November 17, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) sentenced 78-year-old Hasina to death along with then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on charges of committing “crimes against humanity” after a trial held in absentia. Hasina is currently in India, while Kamal is also believed to be hiding in the country.
In a post on its official social media account, the Awami League alleged that the tribunal's verdict was part of a political "conspiracy" by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government to keep Hasina and the party "out of the election" scheduled for February next year.
Rejecting the "illegal verdict of the illegal ICT tribunal" and demanding the resignation of Yunus, the party announced protests, demonstrations and "resistance marches across all districts and upazilas (sub-districts) until November 30".
The party said the "farcical" judgment had been “rejected with contempt” by citizens and described the tribunal proceedings as a “mockery of a trial”.
The Awami League said it was engaging with grassroots workers, political leaders and stakeholders to counter what it called “anti-state conspiracies,” and vowed to lead nationwide resistance against any attempts to exclude pro-liberation forces from the electoral process.
"A staged election... will not be allowed in Bangladesh. It will be resisted at any cost,” it said, adding that a “tough nationwide movement” would be announced soon.
Hasina’s Awami League government was toppled in a student-led violent protest termed as the ‘July Uprising’ on August 5 last year.
Three days later, Nobel Laureate Yunus flew from Paris at the call of the protesting students to assume the charge of the interim government as its chief adviser.
Hasina and the two others were accused of adopting brutal means to tame the protestors, while a UN rights office report said about 1,400 people were killed between July 15 and August 15 last year.