Bangladesh ‘s former leader and one of the most violent female leaders in recent memory is preparing to stand trial in absentia. Following her ouster from power a few years ago, she has now been indicted for crimes against humanity for the many atrocities she helped commit and even ordered during her rule over the country.
The Lowdown
Sheikh Hasina the former dictator-leader of Bangladesh has now been charged with crimes against humanity for her role in attempting to quash student led protests a few years ago that led to her fall from power. Hasina at the time famously fled the country to neighboring India and has refused all extradition efforts by Bangladesh to bring her to justice. Hasina fled on 5 August last year by helicopter and has remained in hiding in India ever since. Prosecutors in the ongoing case against the disgraced dictator have been gathering evidence to bring Hasina to justice for months, some of which, includes numerous cases of mass killings of students who famously rose up against her authoritarian regime in July last year.
The charges come after a panel called the international crimes tribunal formally indicted Hasina, her former interior minister Asaduzzman Khan, and the former chief of police Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun each on five charges including crimes against humanity. Prosecutors shockingly allege that Hasina was the ‘mastermind conductor and superior commander’ of the targeted mass state-sponsored violence against students that led the protest last year. Hasina ‘s party in Trump like fashion has called the indictment a ‘witch hunt’ that came from a ‘kangaroo court.’