Sajeeb Wazed, son of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Tuesday accused the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in the country of “weaponising the judiciary” for carrying out a “political witch hunt” against leaders of the Awami League.
“The judges and prosecutors appointed by unelected Yunus led regime to conduct farcical trial process through International Crimes Tribunal makes it a political witch hunt that forsakes justice and marks another ongoing onslaught to persecute Awami League leadership,” Wazed said in a social media post.
His statement came a day after Bangladesh’s interim government said that it has sent a note verbale, or an unsigned diplomatic communique, to India formally seeking Hasina’s extradition.
Hasina was ousted from power and forced to flee to India on August 5 amid widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government. She had been the prime minister of Bangladesh for 16 years.
Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government on August 8.
On August 15, the Dhaka Tribune reported that Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal was investigating Hasina on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in connection with the violent anti-government protests between July 15 and August 5.
Nine other prominent leaders of Hasina’s Awami League party were also being investigated, including its general secretary and former road transport minister Obaidul Quader, and the country’s former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.
On Tuesday, Wazed said: “The kangaroo tribunal and subsequent request for extradition comes while hundreds of leaders and activists are extrajudicially killed, framing of outrageous murder charges, illegal incarceration of thousands by law enforcement and violent attacks including looting vandalism and arson going on with impunity everyday fuelled by denial of the regime.”
Wazed added the Awami League’s position is that “every single incident of human rights violation between July and August needs to be investigated in a free and fair manner”.
“…but the Yunus-led regime weaponised the judiciary, and we express no confidence in the justice system,” he alleged.
India had confirmed on Monday that it received the note verbale from the Bangladesh High Commission.
The India and Bangladesh had signed an extradition treaty in 2013. It states that “extradition may be refused if the offence for which it is requested is an offence of political character”. However, it also adds that offences such as murder will not be considered as being of “political character”.
On November 17, in an address to mark 100 days of his government, Yunus said that around 1,500 students, workers and civilians were killed during the violence amid the anti-government protests in Bangladesh. It had also left 19,931 persons injured, he added.
“During this time [protests], the police and administration became completely inactive, creating an alarming situation,” he said. “We all now have the responsibility of rebuilding a nation devastated by autocratic rule. After the July-August uprising, we inherited a country in total disarray.”
Justice and accountability would be ensured for every killing, Yunus said, adding that the initiatives his administration had taken to investigate the deaths in July and August were progressing well. “Our government is meticulously gathering information on every single death,” he said.
Diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Dhaka have been strained since Hasina fled to India, after which incidents of violence against religious minorities were reported in several parts of Bangladesh.
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