Toppled chief is in India, which has bilateral extradition treaty with Bangladesh – although loophole may forestall her return.
A Bangladeshi court docket has ordered the arrest of self-exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India greater than two months in the past after being toppled in a student-led rebellion.
Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s Worldwide Crimes Tribunal (ICT), mentioned on Thursday the court docket had issued arrest warrants for Hasina and 45 others, ordering that they attend court docket by November 18, based on The Every day Star native newspaper.
“Sheikh Hasina was on the helm of those that dedicated massacres, killings and crimes towards humanity in July to August,” Islam mentioned, referring to a crackdown on pupil protests, which killed greater than 1,000 individuals, based on the interim Well being Ministry.
The coed-led motion started with demonstrations demanding the federal government abolish its follow of reserving a 3rd of civil service jobs for kin of warfare veterans, earlier than spiralling into wider protests calling for Hasina’s resignation.
Human rights teams accused the prime minister of utilizing extreme pressure towards protesters, a cost she denied.
After weeks of nationwide unrest, Hasina resigned and fled to India in early August. She was changed by Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, who’s at present main the nation’s interim authorities.
Hasina has not been seen in public since leaving Bangladesh. The 77-year-old’s final official whereabouts is a army airbase close to India’s capital, New Delhi.
Her presence in India has infuriated Bangladesh, which has revoked Hasina’s diplomatic passport. The 2 nations have a bilateral extradition treaty which may theoretically compel her to return to face felony trial.
Nonetheless, a clause within the treaty says extradition is likely to be refused if the offence is of a “political character”.
It isn’t clear whether or not the previous pro-democracy icon, who critics say had develop into more and more autocratic throughout her 15-year reign, will stay in India or head elsewhere.
It was Hasina’s authorities that created the deeply contentious ICT in 2010 to probe atrocities through the 1971 independence warfare from Pakistan.
The United Nations and rights teams have criticised its procedural shortcomings, with the court docket usually seen as a method for Hasina to remove political opponents.
A number of instances accusing Hasina of orchestrating the “mass homicide” of protesters are being investigated by the court docket.
