DHAKA: The chief prosecutor of Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal has said that the country will request the extradition of Sheikh Hasina, the deposed leader, from neighboring India on charges that she committed “massacres.”
Following weeks of student-led protests that turned into widespread demonstrations last month, Hasina abruptly resigned as prime minister on August 5 and fled by helicopter to her longtime ally, India, bringing an end to her harsh 15 years in office.
The head prosecutor of Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), Mohammad Tajul Islam, informed reporters on Sunday that “we will start the legal procedure to bring her back as the main perpetrator has fled the country.”
Hasina established the ICT in 2010 to look into crimes committed during Pakistan’s 1971 independence war.
A number of human rights violations, including the extrajudicial killings and extensive arrest of Hasina’s political rivals, were attributed to her regime.
Islam said, “Bangladesh and India signed a criminal extradition treaty in 2013, during Sheikh Hasina’s government.”
“We will attempt to lawfully bring her back to Bangladesh to stand trial, as she has been named the principal accused of the massacres there.”
The 76-year-old Hasina has not been sighted in public since escaping Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is angry that she is in India. Her diplomatic passport has been revoked by Dhaka, and the two nations have a bilateral extradition arrangement that would allow her to be sent back to face criminal charges.
