Dhaka warns \u201cgranting asylum to these convicts… would be extremely unfriendly and an affront to justice\u201d
\n DHAKA
\nBangladesh on Monday demanded India extradite ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, hours after she was sentenced to hang for crimes against humanity.
\nHasina\u2019s autocratic rule was backed by New Delhi, and the 78-year-old fled to India after her ouster in a mass uprising in August 2024, fraying relations between the two neighbours.
\nShe has been in hiding ever since.
\nOn Monday a court in Dhaka sentenced Hasina as well as former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death in absentia, after being found guilty of crimes against humanity over a deadly crackdown against last year\u2019s student-led uprising.
\nThe former minister\u2019s whereabouts are not known, but Bangladesh says he is also in India.
\n\u201cWe urge the government of India to immediately extradite the two convicts to the Bangladeshi authorities,\u201d Dhaka\u2019s foreign ministry said in a statement, saying it was \u201can obligatory responsibility for India\u201d.
\nBangladesh warned that \u201cgranting asylum to these convicts… would be extremely unfriendly and an affront to justice.\u201d
\nIndia\u2019s foreign ministry said that it had \u201cnoted the verdict\u201d of Hasina.
\n\u201cIndia remains committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh, including in peace, democracy, inclusion and stability,\u201d the ministry said in a statement that does not directly address the issue of potential extradition.
\nHasina\u2019s 15-year tenure saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
\nBangladesh last year said it would request an Interpol red notice for Hasina, but there was no record on the global police body alert law enforcement list.
\nBangladesh\u2019s interim leader Muhammad Yunus welcomed the verdict.
\n\u201cThe awarding of death sentences to Sheikh Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal in the crimes against humanity case is a historic verdict,\u201d the Nobel Peace Prize winner said in a statement.
\nHe called for calm and warned against any \u201cattempt to violate public order\u201d, urging \u201ceveryone to refrain from any indisciplined acts\u201d.
\nHasina\u2019s son and adviser, Sajeeb Wazed, told Reuters on the eve of the verdict that they would not appeal unless a democratically elected government took office with the Awami League\u2019s participation.
\nDuring the trial, prosecutors told the court that they had uncovered evidence of her direct command to use lethal force to suppress a student-led uprising in July and August 2024.
\nAccording to a United Nations report, up to 1,400 people may have been killed during the protests between July 15 and August 5, 2024, with thousands more injured \u2014 most of them by gunfire from security forces
\nHasina was represented by a state-appointed defence counsel who told the court that the charges against her were baseless and pleaded for her acquittal.
\nAhead of the verdict, Hasina dismissed the accusations and the fairness of the Tribunal proceedings, asserting a guilty verdict was \u201ca foregone conclusion.\u201d
\nBangladesh has been tense ahead of the verdict, with at least 30 crude bomb explosions and 26 vehicles torched across the country over the past few days. There have been no casualties, however.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dhaka warns \u201cgranting asylum to these convicts… would be extremely unfriendly and an affront to justice\u201d DHAKA Bangladesh on Monday demanded India extradite ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, hours after she was sentenced to hang for crimes against humanity. Hasina\u2019s autocratic rule was backed by New Delhi, and the 78-year-old fled to India after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-515129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n