Bangladesh court orders arrest warrant for ex-leader Sheikh Hasina

DHAKA – A Bangladeshi court on Oct 17 ordered an arrest warrant for exiled former leader Sheikh Has­ina, who

fled to India in August

after she was toppled from power by a student-led revolution.

“The court has... ordered the arrest­ of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and to produce her in court on Nov 18,” Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told reporters on Oct 17.

Ms Hasina’s 15-year rule saw wide­spread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extra­judicial killings of her political opponents.

“Sheikh Hasina was at the helm of those who committed massacres, killings and crimes against humanity in July to August”, Mr Islam­ said, calling it a “remarkable day”.

Ms Hasina, 77, has not been seen in public since fleeing Bangladesh, and her last official whereabouts is a military airbase near India’s capital, New Delhi.

Her presence in India has infuriated Bangladesh.

Dhaka has revoked her diplomatic passport, and the countries have a bilateral extradition treaty which would permit her return to face criminal trial.

A clause in the treaty, however, says extradition might be refused if the offence is of a “political character”.

Ms Hasina’s government created the deeply contentious ICT in 2010 to investigate atrocities during the 1971 independence war from Pakistan.

The United Nations and rights groups criticised its procedural shortcomings, and it became widely seen as a means for Ms Hasina to eliminate political opponents.

Several cases accusing Ms Hasina of orchestrating the “mass murder” of protesters are being probed by the court. AFP