August 13th 2024.
In Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, there is news of the country's former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, facing trial on murder charges along with six others. This includes two senior ministers from her cabinet and the former police chief who was removed from his position. The charges are in connection to the death of a grocery shop owner during the recent violent clashes that led to the fall of Hasina's government.
The case against Hasina, who is 76 years old, is the first of its kind since she resigned and fled to India on August 5th. Along with her, six others have been named in the case, including Awami League general secretary and former road transport minister Obaidul Quader, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, and the former inspector general of police Abdullah Al Mamun. It is reported that Hasina left the country, while the two ministers are believed to have left secretly before her resignation. The whereabouts of the police officers remain unknown to the media.
According to court officials, the case was filed by a resident of the Mohammadpur area, and the Metropolitan Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury has asked the police to register it as an FIR. The six others named in the case are Dhaka's police commissioner Habibur Rahman, Additional IGP Harun-or-Rashid, and additional joint commissioner Biplab Kumar. It is still unclear which agency will be responsible for investigating the case.
The Home Affairs Adviser Brigadier General Sakhawat Hossain has speculated that over 500 protestors and policemen lost their lives during the three weeks of violence that started from a movement by Students Against Discrimination. The case against Hasina and the others was filed for the death of a grocery shop owner who was killed in police firing during a street march in support of the students' movement for reforming the quota system for government jobs. The case was filed by a well-wisher of the deceased, Abu Sayed.
Media reports also mention several unnamed high-ranking police officials and government officials being accused in the case. The violence that followed the fall of Hasina's government on August 5th resulted in the deaths of over 230 people, bringing the total death toll from the anti-quota protests to 560 since it first began in mid-July. In the wake of these events, an interim government was formed, and its Chief Adviser, 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, announced the portfolios of his 16-member council of advisors last week.
Recently, seven political parties, including the Awami League's arch-rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, met with Yunus separately and expressed their support for the interim government to take the necessary time to create an environment conducive to holding free and fair elections. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir stated that they did not discuss the election and did not mention a specific time frame for the next one. He also mentioned that the BNP was fully supportive of the interim government's activities.
According to sources, the BNP has urged Yunus to withdraw all cases against its leaders, including party chairperson Khaleda Zia and acting chairman Tarique Rahman. Zia, who is 79 years old, was released from jail after Hasina's ouster and was previously sentenced to 17 years in prison for corruption in 2018.
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