Dhaka (Bangladesh), November 17 (ANI): Bangladesh on Monday urged India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, according to reports by Reuters. The request follows the sentencing of both leaders to death for their alleged roles in the crackdown on a student uprising in 2024. Reuters reported that Bangladesh maintains India is obligated under an extradition treaty to return the two leaders.
Hasina responded to the verdict, calling the tribunal’s decision illegitimate. In a statement shared by the Bangladesh Awami League, she described the tribunal as “rigged,” established by an “unelected government with no democratic mandate,” and said the verdicts were “biased and politically motivated.” She accused extremist elements within the interim government of attempting to eliminate Bangladesh’s last elected prime minister and dismantle the Awami League as a political force.
Addressing the charges made by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), Hasina said she “wholly denied” the accusations. She expressed sorrow for all deaths that occurred during the July–August 2024 unrest but insisted neither she nor any other political leaders had ordered the killing of protesters. She also said she had not been given a fair chance to defend herself in court or choose her own legal representation during the in-absentia proceedings.
Her statement further alleged that the ICT lacked impartiality, accusing it of targeting Awami League members exclusively while ignoring documented violence committed by other political groups against religious minorities, indigenous communities, journalists, and others. She noted that the same court had been used previously to try individuals accused of undermining Bangladesh’s independence during the 1971 liberation war, claiming the latest verdict was driven by “revenge” against a democratically elected government.
Hasina said she had repeatedly challenged the interim government to take the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, asserting that the ICC would acquit her and scrutinize the interim government’s own human rights record. She added that the interim government had declined this challenge.
Earlier on Monday, a Bangladesh court found the ousted former prime minister guilty of committing “crimes against humanity” during the 2024 uprising. Local media reported that the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Hasina to death after finding her guilty on all five charges brought against her. The tribunal also convicted former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal for their alleged roles in orchestrating atrocities during the movement.
Hasina, currently in exile in India, was tried in absentia. The 78-year-old leader fled to New Delhi following the collapse of her government in Dhaka.
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