Dhaka: Bangladesh announced on Sunday that it will request a “red notice” from Interpol for leaders fleeing the regime of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted by a revolution in August.
“Those responsible for the indiscriminate killings during the mass uprising in July and August will be returned from wherever they took refuge,” Asif Nazrul, legal advisor to the interim government, told reporters on Sunday.
We will work to arrest them and bring them to justice.”
Dozens of Hasina’s allies have been detained since the collapse of her regime, accused of involvement in a police crackdown that killed more than 700 people during the unrest that led to her ouster.
Interpol, based in France, publishes Red Notices at the request of a member state, based on an arrest warrant issued in its country of origin.
Nazrul did not mention anyone by name, but Bangladesh has already issued an arrest warrant for 77-year-old Hasina, who was last seen arriving in India after fleeing by helicopter when crowds stormed her palace.
Hasina’s 15-year rule saw widespread human rights violations, including mass detention and extrajudicial killing of her political opponents.
Global Police Red Notices alert law enforcement agencies around the world about fugitives.
Nazrul said they would request a red notice be issued “as soon as possible.”
India is a member of Interpol, but the red notice does not mean New Delhi must extradite Hasina.
Member states can “apply their own laws in deciding whether to arrest someone,” according to the group, which regulates police cooperation between 196 member states.
Hasina was summoned to appear in court in Dhaka on November 18 to face charges of “massacres, murder and crimes against humanity.”
Muhammad Tajul Islam, Prosecutor of the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, said: Agence France-Presse The court “requested arrest warrants for more than 60 people,” and that “about 25 people have been arrested so far.”