DHAKA, Sept 12 (NNN-BSS) – Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal is to seek the extradition of deposed Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, from neighbouring India, according to its head prosecutor, accusing her of carrying out “massacres.”
Weeks of student-led demonstrations in Bangladesh erupted into widespread protests in July, prompting Hasina to resign as prime minister and flee to old ally, India, by helicopter, on Aug 5, thus ending her 15-year rule.
“Since the main perpetrator has fled the country, we will begin the legal process to bring her back,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, top prosecutor of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told reporters.
Hasina established the ICT in 2010, to investigate atrocities committed during Pakistan’s 1971 war of independence.
Hasina’s government has been accused of massive human rights violations, including mass incarceration and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
“Bangladesh has a criminal extradition treaty with India, which was signed in 2013, while Sheikh Hasina’s government was in power,” he said.
“As she has been made the main accused of the massacres in Bangladesh, we will try to bring her back to Bangladesh to face trial.”
Hasina, 76, has not been seen in public since fleeing Bangladesh. Her last known official location is a military airbase, near India’s capital, New Delhi.
Dhaka has revoked her diplomatic passport, and the countries have a bilateral extradition arrangement that would allow her to return to face criminal charges.
However, a clause in the treaty states that, extradition may be refused if the offense is “political in nature.”
Interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who took over following the uprising, said last week that, Hasina should “keep quiet” while exiled in India, until she is brought back for prosecution.– NNN-BSS
