A special tribunal has indicted Bangladesh's ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, accepting charges of crimes against humanity filed against her over a mass uprising in which hundreds of students were killed last year.
In February, the UN human rights office estimated up to 1,400 people may have been killed in Bangladesh over three weeks of crackdowns on the student-led protests against Ms Hasina and two weeks after her fall on August 5.
A three-member panel indicted Ms Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun on five charges.
The tribunal opened the trial on June 5, and Ms Hasina and Mr Khan are being tried in their absence.
Responding to the panel's decision, Ms Hasina's Awami League party condemned the trial process and said the tribunal was a "kangaroo" court.
Authorities published newspaper advertisements asking Ms Hasina, who has been in exile in India since August 5, and Mr Khan to appear before the tribunal.
Bangladesh's interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, sent a formal request to India for Ms Hasina's extradition, but India has not responded.
Mr Khan is possibly also in India.
The prosecution offered a leaked audio of Ms Hasina and other documents as evidence to the tribunal.
Mr Al-Mamun, who was arrested and appeared before the panel on Thursday, pleaded guilty and told the tribunal he would make a statement in favour of the prosecution at a later stage.
Muhammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at the ICT, told reporters that Mr Al-Mamun had agreed to assist the court by acting as a witness, giving "all the knowledge he has regarding the crimes committed during the July-August uprising".
The court has approved separate accommodation to ensure Mr Al-Mamun's safety.
The tribunal on Thursday also rejected defence lawyers' request to have the charges against Ms Hasina and her home minister Asaduzzaman Khan dismissed.
The tribunal set August 3 for the opening statement by the prosecution and August 4 for recording witness statements.
Hasina's party condemns indictment
In a post on X, the Awami League accused the Yunus-led administration of manipulating the judiciary.
"People have lost their faith over the judicial system as Yunus regime has reduced this key state organ into a means to prosecute dissenters," it said.
"We condemn in strongest term the indictment against our party president and other leaders as we assert that this step marks another testament to the ongoing witch hunt against our party and weaponisation of judiciary by Yunus regime."
Ms Hasina and the Awami League has previously criticised the tribunal and its prosecution team for connections to political parties, especially the Jamaat-e-Islami party.
Filing five charges, the prosecution argued Ms Hasina was directly responsible for ordering all state forces, her Awami League party and its associates to carry out actions leading to mass killings, injuries, targeted violence against women and children, the incineration of bodies and denial of medical treatment to the wounded.
The charges describe Ms Hasina as the "mastermind, conductor, and superior commander" of the atrocities.
The interim government has banned the Awami League party and amended relevant laws to allow the trial of the former ruling party for its role during the uprising.
Ms Hasina was already convicted of contempt of court in a separate case on July 2, receiving a six-month sentence.
AP/AFP
