Bangladesh to seek Interpol help to repatriate Hasina

Bangladesh’s interim government on Sunday said it would seek Interpol’s assistance in repatriating deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina from India and other “fugitives” to face trial for alleged crimes against humanity.

Hasina and her party leaders face accusations of ordering brutal suppression of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, resulting in numerous casualties during the July-August protests. The movement later intensified into a large-scale uprising, forcing Hasina to secretly flee to India on August 5.

According to the interim government led by chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, at least 753 people were killed and thousands injured during the protests, which it termed crimes against humanity and genocide.

Over 60 complaints of crime against humanity and genocide have been filed against Hasina and her party leaders with the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) and the prosecution team till mid-October.

“A red notice will be issued through Interpol very soon. No matter where in the world these fugitive fascists are hiding, they will be brought back and held accountable in court,” law affairs adviser Asif Nazrul told reporters here after inspecting the status of renovation at the ICT, which is housed in the old high court building on the Supreme Court premises. Officials said a red notice was not an international arrest warrant, but rather a global request for law enforcement agencies to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. Interpol member countries enforce red notices according to their own national laws.

The ICT was originally formed by the Hasina-led Awami League government in March 2010 to try the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War. It later formed ICT-2, and at least six Jamaat-e-Islami and leaders of Hasina’s arch rival Khaleeda Zia’s BNP were executed following the judgments of the two tribunals. The tribunal remained dormant since mid-June after its chairman retired.

The interim government reconstituted the tribunal on October 12. On October 17, the tribunal issued arrest warrants against Hasina and 45 others, including her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and several of her former cabinet members.

The interim government had earlier said that Hasina and several of her cabinet colleagues and Awami League leaders would be tried in this special tribunal.

However, chief adviser Yunus, in an interview with a UK-based newspaper last month, said his government would not immediately seek Hasina’s extradition from India, an approach seen as preventing diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

Red notice to be issued

A red notice will be issued through Interpol very soon. No matter where in the world these fugitive fascists are hiding, they will be brought back and held accountable in court. — Asif Nazrul, Law Affairs Adviser