Bangladesh tribunal issues arrest warrant against Sheikh Hasina's son Sajeeb

Dhaka: A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Thursday issued an arrest warrant against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s expatriate son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, a month after sentencing his mother to death on charges of committing crimes against humanity.

"The tribunal issued the arrest warrant in a case filed against him for (as well) committing crimes against humanity during the July Uprising," an ICT-BD prosecutor told reporters, adding an identical warrant was issued against then junior minister for ICT affairs Junaid Ahmed Palak, who, however, is already in jail.

Bangladesh's International Crime Tribunal (ICT-BD) handed down the death penalty to the ex-premier and her then home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, for her attempts to tame a student-led violent street protest dubbed the July Uprising through brutal means after their trial in absentia.

Joy, 54, an information communication expert who served as the ex-premier’s ICT affairs adviser, currently lives in the US.

The student-led violent street movement dubbed the July Uprising toppled ex-premier Hasina’s Awami League regime on August 5, 2025, while Professor Muhammad-led subsequent interim government in January published a list of 834 deaths of “July Warriors”.

The UN rights commission office (OHCHR) reported 1,400 deaths between July 15 and August 15, saying the figure included the outcome of retaliatory violence against police and Awami League activists even after the fall of the past government.

The ICT-BD in a separate case filed over “mass killings’ carried out after the imposition of curfew during the movement on Thursday accepted formal charges against former law minister Anisul Huq and ex-premier’s investment adviser Salman F Rahman.

Both of them were already in jail while the tribunal ordered their personal appearance on the dock on December 10, along with the then junior ICT minister Palak.