A court in Bangladesh has initiated murder charges against the ousted ex-premier Sheikh Hasina and six senior figures from her administration on Tuesday, following the police killing of a man during a protest last month.
Hasina, 76, fled by chopper to nearby India a week ago, where she remains, when protesters stormed the streets of Dhaka, putting her iron-fisted government to an abrupt end.
During the weeks of upheaval that preceded her fall from office, almost 450 people died.
“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 mentioned 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 court filing also implicated Asaduzzaman Khan, Hasina’s former home minister, and Obaidul Quader, the Awami League party’s general secretary.
It also lists four top police officers nominated by Hasina’s government but who have since left their positions.
The case accuses the seven of being responsible for the death of a grocery shop owner, who was shot on July 19th by police while forcibly suppressing protests.
According to the Daily Star newspaper, the action was filed 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 was accused of widespread human rights violations, including the extrajudicial killings of thousands of her political opponents. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned from Europe three days after Hasina’s dismissal to join a transitional administration entrusted with guiding democratic changes.
The 84-year-old received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, which is credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis escape crushing poverty.
He took over as “chief adviser” to a temporary administration made up of civilians except for the Home Minister, Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier general.
Yunus has stated his aim to organise elections “within a few months.” Hossain said on Monday that the government has no plans to outlaw Hasina’s Awami League, which was instrumental 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.”
