March 19, 2025
DHAKA – Deposed premier Sheikh Hasina will be charged with murder, abduction, enforced disappearance, and arson at the International Crimes Tribunal.
Investigators say they have found strong evidence to charge her with command responsibility for executions, burning bodies, enforced disappearance, and confinement.
The probe report on Hasina’s alleged crimes against humanity is likely to be submitted to the tribunal next month, making it the first to reach that stage since the court was reconstituted on October 14.
However, the trial is expected to begin after a few other cases.
The probe report will be submitted on time, but the trial may commence in the second or third stage, said the tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor Md Tajul Islam.
This was because his team wanted to test the waters with the other smaller cases.
It would help the prosecution identify the weaknesses they might have in putting together the case against the former prime minister.
“The case filed over the killing and burning of six bodies in Ashulia or the case filed over the killings and crimes against humanity in Chankharpool are likely to kick off the trials as these are straightforward.”
Although the prosecution toiled day and night, they still need more time to investigate the atrocities of Jatrabari, Uttara, and Badda as these places had a high number of casualties, Tajul said.
However, the final report will be ready any time now. “We have already received a draft report on the Ashulia incident. All cases are in their final stages.”
The tribunal’s investigation agency, however, is yet to submit a probe report in any of the 23 cases, three of which charge Hasina with crimes against humanity for her command responsibility, said an investigator preferring anonymity.
As many as 143 others, including former ministers, Awami League leaders, and law enforcers, are also accused in the cases.
Hasina would be charged with all elements of crimes against humanity for ordering systematic and widespread killings, said an investigator preferring anonymity.
The investigation agency has already gathered concrete evidence to charge the former premier, currently sheltered in India, with command responsibility.
Her crimes include murders, burning bodies, enforced disappearances, confining people to secret detention centres and political persecution.
Asked about the authenticity of a leaked audio clip featuring a voice like Hasina’s that was ordering the use of lethal weapons against the July uprising protesters and the arrest of student coordinators, Tajul said, “We have already received a forensic report certifying that the voice is indeed of Sheikh Hasina.”
About the British international human rights lawyer Toby Cadman’s suggestion to refer the cases of the July-August massacres to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Tajul said, “Toby may have proposed this to strengthen global opinion against Hasina. That decision is yet to be finalised.”
The trial process would continue notwithstanding developments on that front.
The investigators and prosecutors said the probe report will provide details of murders like that of Abu Sayed in Rangpur, Ashabul Yamin in Savar, Hridoy in Konabari, Imam Hasan Taim in Jatrabari or Anas in Chankharpool.
Those murders were particularly horrifying and some of them were widely seen as social media video clips went viral.
The probe will also include the case of law enforcers shooting an unarmed man hanging from the cornice of a building in Rampura, and the burning of six bodies in Savar.
The report will hold Hasina responsible for all incidents that took place across Bangladesh.
She used police, other law enforcement agencies and armed party members to kill protesters. She even ordered helicopters to fire upon people, the investigators said.
That was the reason so many people had died, the investigators also said, adding that the prosecution would also mention the UN fact-finding report, which put the death toll at 1,400.