Bangladeshi tribunal to hear charges against deposed PM Hasina on June 1, to be shown live

Dhaka: Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal is set to formally hear charges against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday allowing state-run BTV to broadcast live the event, a first such instance in the country’s history.

Ousted on August 5 last year after a massive student-led agitation, Hasina faces multiple cases in Bangladesh courts that have so far debarred photography or telecast of trial proceedings against her.

However, the decision of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) to allow live streaming is set to break the tradition in the case of Hasina, who could face the death penalty on the charges brought against her.

The three-judge ICT-BD on February 18 ordered the investigation against Hasina to be completed by April.

“The prosecution will submit formal charges against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the ICT-BD tomorrow in a case filed over crimes against humanity committed during the July-August 2024 mass uprising,” the state-run BSS said.

Hasina’s Awami League regime was ousted in after mass protests led by a platform called Students against Discrimination (SAD) on August 5, 2024; three days later Muhamad Yunus took charge as Cief Adviser of the interim government.

ICT-BD prosecutor Gazi MH Tamim told reporters that the tribunal’s proceedings would start at 9.30 am local time and that the official Bangladesh Television (BTV) has been asked to broadcast the proceedings live.

“The entire nation will witness the submission of the first formal charges to the tribunal against influential figures of the ousted Awami League government, including Sheikh Hasina,” Gazi said, adding that the move would “ensure transparency in the judicial process”.

ICT-BD’s chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam said the tribunal would simultaneously hear charges against former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, both in jail to stand trial.

This tribunal was originally formed by the past regime to try hardened collaborators of Pakistani troops during the 1971 Liberation War.

Six top leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and one leader of the former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) were hanged to death after they were convicted by the court.

The ICT-BD earlier issued an arrest warrant against Hasina while the interim government sought her repatriation from India in a diplomatic note. New Delhi has only acknowledged receipt with no further comment.

Most senior leaders and officials of Hasina’s party and government were arrested to face charges like mass murders to tame the protestors during the July-August violence when hundreds of people, including students and policemen were killed.

According to a UN rights office report some 1,400 people were killed between July 15 and August 15 last year as violence continued even after the fall of the past regime.