NEW DELHI (TIP): In an escalation of legal action against Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a three-member bench of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Wednesday sentenced her to six months in prison for contempt of court. This marks the first time that the Awami League leader has been sentenced in any case.
The verdict, delivered by ICT Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortaza Mozumder, marks the first conviction against the former Prime Minister since her removal from office in August 2024 following a student-led uprising. The tribunal ruled that Hasina’s recent remarks made in exile had “undermined the dignity and authority” of the court.
The prosecution filed a complaint against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over a phone call in which Hasina allegedly claimed she had a “license to kill” 227 people. After repeated failures to appear before the tribunal, public notices were issued for her summoning.
Ironically, the ICT was established by Hasina herself in 2008 to prosecute those accused of war crimes during the 1971 Liberation War. But since her ouster and subsequent escape from Dhaka, the tribunal has undergone sweeping changes under the interim government led by Chief Adviser Mohammed Yunus that include the appointment of new judges and prosecutors.
The contempt verdict comes just a day after prosecutors filed five charges of crimes against humanity against Hasina, including abetment, incitement, complicity, and conspiracy related to mass killings during the July–August 2024 unrest. Hasina denied all charges, calling them politically motivated.
In a statement issued from London, the now-banned Awami League, which Hasina continues, slammed the ruling as a “show trial,” accusing the interim government of turning the ICT into a political tool.
“With the selective appointment of loyal prosecutors and denial of legal rights to detainees, the regime has weaponized the judicial process,” the party said. It alleged the trial was “rigged” to silence dissent and claimed that thousands have been falsely implicated in murder cases and detained without due process.
The Awami League also condemned the ban on its operations, and alleged a “blanket indemnity” had been granted to pro-Yunus forces accused of killing police and unleashing violence during the transition of power.
Further accusing the interim regime of courtroom intimidation, the party said judges were removed under pressure from Yunus-backed mobs, while lawyers and detainees were assaulted in court with impunity. It also expressed alarm that lawyers who had previously defended 1971 war criminals were now serving as prosecutors in Hasina’s trial. (ANI)