bangladesh-lockdown-protests-erupt-against-hasina-trial

Bangladesh seemed to have come to a standstill as transport was halted and schools held classes online after ousted Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, and her former ruling Awami League party called for a nationwide “lockdown” to protest against a trial being held over last year’s bloody protests that left hundred dead.

A special tribunal in Dhaka is expected to announce a verdict against Hasina on Monday, who is accused of charges of crimes against humanity involving a crackdown on student protests that led to an end of her 15-year rule. She has since been in exile in India, and reappeared only recently to deny all charges.

The Awami League party, now banned, urged its supporters to protest against the trial, while the current government and the opposition vowed to stop them. 

The country was rocked by vandalism this past week, forcing schools and colleges to conduct classes online and transport to be halted by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government that heightened security across Bangladesh. 

 

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Explosions of crude bombs and torching of vehicles were reported over the last three days in Dhaka and elsewhere across the nation, indicating political chaos and sparked tensions in the South Asian country. 

The case against Hasina also involves former Home Minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, and former police chief, Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. Al-Mamun is an “approver” in the case, which means he pleaded guilty and became a state witness against Hasina.

While the tribunal’s chief prosecutor, Tajul Islam, called Hasina the “mastermind and principal architect” behind the crimes against humanity and sought the death penalty for her, her party has called the tribunal a “kangaroo court.” Hasina has not appointed a lawyer and denounced the appointment of a lawyer by the state to represent her. 

The United Nations in a February report said up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the violence, while the country’s health adviser under the interim government said more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured.