A Bangladesh court has initiated a murder investigation against ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and six senior officials from her administration, following the police killing of a man during recent civil unrest in the country.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Court has ordered the police to accept “the murder case against the accused persons”, marking the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law. The case was filed by lawyer Mamun Mia on behalf of a private citizen.In addition to the 76-year-old former Prime Minister, the investigation also targets:
- Hasina’s former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan
- Obaidul Quader, the General Secretary of Hasina’s Awami League party
- Four senior police officers appointed by Hasina’s government have since left their positions
The charges stem from the death of Abu Saeed, a grocery store owner who was shot dead by police on July 19th during a violent crackdown on protests in Dhaka. The case was brought by Amir Hamza Shatil, a resident of the neighborhood where the shooting occurred and a “well-wisher” of the victim. Hasina’s government faced widespread accusations of human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of political opponents, during her 15-year rule. The unrest that led to her ouster resulted in the deaths of over 450 people, many of them students.
The ousted Prime Minister fled to neighboring India a week ago as protesters flooded the streets of Dhaka, bringing her iron-fisted tenure to an end. She remains in India as the investigation unfolds.In the wake of Hasina’s departure, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has returned from Europe to lead a temporary administration tasked with steering democratic reforms and holding elections “within a few months”. The new government has vowed to investigate crimes committed under the previous administration.