DHAKA: Bangladesh\u2019s war crimes tribunal is to seek the extradition of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina from neighboring India, its chief prosecutor has said, accusing her of carrying out \u201cmassacres.\u201d
\nWeeks of student-led demonstrations in Bangladesh escalated into mass protests last month, with Hasina quitting as prime minister and fleeing by helicopter to old ally India on August 5, ending her iron-fisted 15-year rule.
\n\u201cAs the main perpetrator has fled the country, we will start the legal procedure to bring her back,\u201d Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of Bangladesh\u2019s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told reporters on Sunday.
\nThe ICT was set up by Hasina in 2010 to probe atrocities during the 1971 independence war from Pakistan.
\nHasina\u2019s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of her political opponents.
\n\u201cBangladesh has a criminal extradition treaty with India which was signed in 2013, while Sheikh Hasina\u2019s government was in power,\u201d Islam added.
\n\u201cAs she has been made the main accused of the massacres in Bangladesh, we will try to legally bring her back to Bangladesh to face trial.\u201d
\nHasina, 76, has not been seen in public since fleeing Bangladesh, and her last official whereabouts is a military air base near India\u2019s capital New Delhi. Her presence in India has infuriated Bangladesh.
\nDhaka has revoked her diplomatic passport, and the countries have a bilateral extradition treaty which would permit her return to face criminal trial.
\nA clause in the treaty, however, says extradition might be refused if the offense is of a \u201cpolitical character.\u201d
\nInterim leader Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who took over after the uprising, last week said Hasina should \u201ckeep quiet\u201d while exiled in India until she is brought home for trial.
\n\u201cIf India wants to keep her until the time Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,\u201d Yunus, 84, told the Press Trust of India news agency.
\nHis government has been under public pressure to demand her extradition and trial over the hundreds of demonstrators killed during the weeks of unrest that ultimately toppled her.
\nMore than 600 people were killed in the weeks leading up to Hasina\u2019s ouster, according to a preliminary United Nations report, suggesting the toll was \u201clikely an underestimate.\u201d
\nBangladesh last month opened an investigation led by a retired high court judge into hundreds of enforced disappearances by security forces during Hasina\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DHAKA: Bangladesh\u2019s war crimes tribunal is to seek the extradition of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina from neighboring India, its chief prosecutor has said, accusing her of carrying out \u201cmassacres.\u201d Weeks of student-led demonstrations in Bangladesh escalated into mass protests last month, with Hasina quitting as prime minister and fleeing by helicopter to old ally India […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-430138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n