Toppled chief is in India, which has bilateral extradition treaty with Bangladesh – although loophole might stop 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), stated on Thursday the court docket had issued arrest warrants for Hasina and 45 others, ordering that they attend court docket by November 18, in accordance with The Each day Star native newspaper.
“Sheikh Hasina was on the helm of those that dedicated massacres, killings and crimes in opposition to humanity in July to August,” Islam stated, referring to a crackdown on student protests, which killed greater than 1,000 individuals, in accordance with the interim Well being Ministry.
The scholar-led motion started with demonstrations demanding the federal government abolish its observe of reserving a 3rd of civil service jobs for relations of warfare veterans, earlier than spiralling into wider protests calling for Hasina’s resignation.
Human rights teams accused the prime minister of utilizing extreme drive in opposition to 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 the moment 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 navy 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 might theoretically compel her to return to face prison trial.
Nonetheless, a clause within the treaty says extradition could be refused if the offence is of a “political character”.
It’s not clear whether or not the previous pro-democracy icon, who critics say had turn out to be 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 throughout 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 way for Hasina to get rid of political opponents.
A number of circumstances accusing Hasina of orchestrating the “mass homicide” of protesters are being investigated by the court docket.