Dhaka: A Bangladesh court on Thursday ordered an arrest warrant for exiled former leader Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India in August after a student revolt ousted her from power.
“The court (…) ordered the arrest of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her production in court on November 18,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, the prosecutor of the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, told reporters on Thursday.
Hasina’s 15-year rule saw widespread human rights violations, including mass detention and extrajudicial killing of her political opponents. Islam said, “Sheikh Hasina was at the head of those who committed massacres, murders and crimes against humanity in the period from July to August,” describing it as a “special day.”
Hasina, 77, has not been seen in public since fleeing Bangladesh, and her last official location is a military air base near the Indian capital, New Delhi. Its presence in India angered Bangladesh.
Dhaka has revoked her diplomatic passport, and the two countries have a bilateral extradition treaty that allows her to return to face a criminal trial. However, a clause in the treaty stipulates that extradition can be refused if the crime is of a “political nature.”
Hasina’s government established the highly controversial ICT in 2010 to investigate atrocities committed during independence in 1971. Its procedural flaws were criticized by the United Nations and human rights groups, and it became widely seen as a way for Hasina to eliminate political opponents. The court is investigating several cases accusing Hasina of orchestrating the “mass killing” of protesters.