A court in Bangladesh has initiated a murder investigation against the ousted ex-premier Sheikh Hasina and six senior figures from her administration on Tuesday, following the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month.
Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India a week ago, where she remains, as protesters flooded the streets of Dhaka, bringing her iron-fisted rule to a dramatic end.
Over 450 people were killed during the weeks of unrest leading up to her removal from power.
“A case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina and six others,” said Mamun Mia, a lawyer who brought the case on behalf of a private citizen.
He added that the Dhaka Metropolitan Court had ordered the police to accept “the murder case against the accused persons,” the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law.
Mia’s filing with the court also named Hasina’s former Home Minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, and Obaidul Quader, the General Secretary of Hasina’s Awami League party.
It also names four senior police officers appointed by Hasina’s government, who have since vacated their posts.
The case accuses the seven of responsibility for the death of a grocery store owner who was shot dead on 19th July by police violently suppressing protests.
The Daily Star newspaper reported that the case was brought on behalf of Amir Hamza Shatil, a resident of the neighbourhood where the shooting occurred and a “well-wisher” of the victim.
Hasina’s government faced accusations of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned from Europe three days after Hasina’s ouster to lead a temporary administration tasked with the monumental challenge of steering democratic reforms.
The 84-year-old won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance and is credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis escape grinding poverty.
He assumed office as “chief adviser” to a caretaker administration, composed of civilians except for the Home Minister, Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier general. Yunus has expressed his intention to hold elections “within a few months.”
Hossain stated on Monday that the government had no plans to ban Hasina’s Awami League, which played a pivotal role in the country’s independence movement.
“The party has made many contributions to Bangladesh—we don’t deny this,” he told reporters on Monday.
“When the election comes, they should contest the elections.”
AFP has contacted the caretaker administration for comment.
AFP/Punch
