The interim government of Bangladesh led by Mohammad Yunus on Thursday demanded death penalty for ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the country’s International Crime Tribunal-1. The interim government’s lawyer argued in ICT-1 that Hasina should be given ‘1,400 death sentences’ for the 1,400 murders that took place during the student movement in July-August 2024.
Last year on August 5 bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, who was forced to flee, is currently in India. According to the report published in ‘Dhaka Tribune’, Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, representing the interim government of Bangladesh in the International Crime Tribunal-1, presented his side after five days of debate. He described Sheikh Hasina as the mastermind behind the ‘crimes against humanity’ committed during the student movement.
According to ‘The Daily Star’ report, Islam said, ‘If separate punishment is given for each murder, Hasina should be hanged 1,400 times. Since this is not possible, we are demanding at least a death sentence for them, otherwise it will be injustice to the victims. He claimed that Sheikh Hasina personally ordered the shoot-at-site from the top of the command structure. Phone calls and other evidence exposed his vengeful mentality.
The Chief Prosecutor also sought death penalty for former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former Director General of Police (IGP) Chaudhry Abdullah Al-Mamun. He alleged that the trio committed the crimes in a ‘pre-planned and systematic’ manner. Al-Mamun had confessed in the tribunal on July 10 that the allegations of murders and mass massacres during the July-August movement were true. He also admitted to the disappearance of some students involved in anti-government protests.
The special prosecutor for former Home Minister Kamal said that ‘genocide was planned at his residence’. He himself used to go to the crime scenes and ensure the murders. Let us tell you that in July-August last year, the students’ protest against the quota system in government jobs in Bangladesh started, gradually transformed into a widespread movement against the Sheikh Hasina government. The current interim government has alleged that security forces, on the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, opened fire and lathicharge on unarmed protesters, resulting in 1,400 deaths.
Bangladesh had turned into a war zone due to the students’ movement. Army Chief Wakar-uz-Zaman advised Sheikh Hasina to leave the country. Hasina fled to India from Dhaka on August 5, 2024 and has been living in exile since then. Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal-1 has recorded statements and heard cross-examination of 54 witnesses over the past month in the trial against Sheikh Hasina, with chief investigating officer Amed Alamgir being the key witness.
Advocate Amad Aamir Hussain, representing Sheikh Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, rejected Alamgir’s statements. He has argued that the students’ movement was hijacked by fundamentalist and political forces. It was because of them that violence broke out. Law enforcement officers had to open fire in response to the violent actions of the protesters.
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