Bangladesh trial accuses fugitive ex-PM Hasina of organising ‘systematic attack’ on protests
On the same day Sheikh Hasina faces trial for allegedly orchestrating a crackdown on protests, Bangladesh unveiled new banknotes without her father’s portrait
“Upon scrutinising the evidence, we reached the conclusion that it was a coordinated, widespread and [a] systematic attack,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor at Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), told the court in his opening speech.
“The accused unleashed all law enforcement agencies and her armed party members to crush the uprising”.
Hasina, who remains in self-imposed exile in India, has rejected the charges as politically motivated.
As well as Hasina, the case includes ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun – who is in custody, but who did not appear in court on Sunday – and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who, like Hasina, is on the run.