https://www.scmp.com/rss/515806/feed Redwan Ahmed is an award-winning freelance multiplatform journalist based in Bangladesh. His work focuses on the exploitation of workers in the country's garment industry, human rights violations and climate crises. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Aidan Jones,Redwan Ahmed Aidan Jones,Redwan Ahmed A Bangladesh tribunal sentenced ousted former leader Sheikh Hasina to death in absentia on Monday, ruling she should be hanged for crimes against humanity committed during a crackdown on student-led protests that triggered the downfall of her 15-year regime. She was also given a life sentence on charges including incitement, ordering, and failure to prevent atrocities. Hasina, 78, who has lived in self-exile in India since fleeing Bangladesh on August 5, 2024, was found guilty of three counts... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3333082/bangladeshs-sheikh-hasina-found-guilty-crimes-against-humanity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3333082/bangladeshs-sheikh-hasina-found-guilty-crimes-against-humanity?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Nov 2025 08:04:42 +0000 Redwan Ahmed Redwan Ahmed Bangladesh is bracing itself for a landmark court verdict on Monday that could see its self-exiled former leader Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, with the case potentially fuelling an already combustible political climate ahead of national elections. The outcome could either deliver long-awaited justice for the 1,400 people killed during a brutal crackdown last year or spark a repeat of the chaos, according to analysts. Hasina, 78, fled to India in August 2024 after... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3332886/justice-or-chaos-bangladesh-edge-hasina-verdict-looms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3332886/justice-or-chaos-bangladesh-edge-hasina-verdict-looms?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Nov 2025 08:00:14 +0000 Redwan Ahmed Redwan Ahmed A year after the autocrat Sheikh Hasina was toppled, Habibur Rahman still carries the physical scars of Bangladesh’s revolution – he walks with a limp and says the birdshot lodged in his skull sometimes pulses like a warning. But it is his right eye – sightless, unmoving and faintly crimson – that tells the real story of those bloody, chaotic days. On July 18, 2024, riot police opened fire on demonstrators in Dhaka’s Jatrabari neighbourhood, on Hasina’s orders. Students had taken to the streets... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3320471/year-bangladeshs-revolutionaries-question-gains-what-we-fought?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3320471/year-bangladeshs-revolutionaries-question-gains-what-we-fought?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Aug 2025 06:30:08 +0000 Muhammad Yunus has worn many hats in his storied career: economist, Nobel laureate, pioneer of microfinance, and, more recently, nemesis of the now-deposed authoritarian Sheikh Hasina, who pursued him relentlessly through the courts. But his latest role may be the most daunting yet: steward of a nation at a crossroads, tasked with rebuilding Bangladesh’s broken institutions, steering an anaemic economy hamstrung by corruption and mismanagement through a turbulent global trade environment and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3307978/bangladeshs-new-leader-dreams-big-chinas-backing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3307978/bangladeshs-new-leader-dreams-big-chinas-backing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Apr 2025 00:00:13 +0000 Remittances to Bangladesh are on course to surpass US$3 billion this March, a monthly record, in a boost for the interim government as it struggles to stabilise the economy, replenish foreign reserves and restore public confidence after the uprising that ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. As of Wednesday, remittance inflows had reached US$2.94 billion, according to the central bank, with daily averages of US$113 million indicating the month’s total will comfortably exceed the US$3... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3304550/bangladeshs-remittance-warriors-deliver-record-us3-billion-boost?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3304550/bangladeshs-remittance-warriors-deliver-record-us3-billion-boost?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:00:18 +0000 Since taking over from toppled leader Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s interim government has faced numerous challenges, from rising inflation to delays in implementing crucial reforms across the judiciary, political system and economy, primarily due to ongoing law and order issues. Additionally, there is growing concern of the ousted Awami League regrouping. Meanwhile, a date for the temporary government’s promised elections remains undetermined, seeding doubt and anxiety among a frustrated... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3299303/can-bangladeshs-yunus-overcome-legacy-sheikh-hasinas-rule-and-deliver-reform-promises?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3299303/can-bangladeshs-yunus-overcome-legacy-sheikh-hasinas-rule-and-deliver-reform-promises?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Feb 2025 09:35:22 +0000 Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina beamed as she stood alongside China’s President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People as both leaders hailed the strength of their bilateral ties, with Dhaka seen as Beijing’s key South Asian strategic partner. Almost one month after her meeting with Xi in Beijing on July 10, Hasina fled her official residence in Dhaka by helicopter to the safety of New Delhi, signalling the dramatic end of her 15-year rule. With her downfall on August 5, questions... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3273861/bangladesh-political-crisis-will-china-stand-its-key-south-asian-partner?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3273861/bangladesh-political-crisis-will-china-stand-its-key-south-asian-partner?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Aug 2024 01:00:15 +0000 Jubilant Bangladeshi protesters flooded into the official residence of fallen Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday afternoon after she fled the country after days of bloody protests. But some warned they would not stomach long-term government by the army as it declared itself in charge on an “interim” basis. The spectacular downfall of Hasina, 76, who governed Bangladesh for 15 years, followed some of the worst political violence ever witnessed in a country that came into being in 1971. Hasina... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3273265/bangladesh-pm-sheikh-hasina-has-resigned-and-left-country-media-reports-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3273265/bangladesh-pm-sheikh-hasina-has-resigned-and-left-country-media-reports-say?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Aug 2024 09:25:18 +0000 Bangladeshi students set fire to the country’s state broadcaster on Thursday, as escalating clashes between pro-government forces, police and students protesting against a civil service job quota system spread across the country and led to at least 32 deaths, with thousands more injured. Analysts say the protests are a reaction to long-term oppression by what many view as an authoritarian regime, exacerbated by the inability of the government to address an ongoing economic crisis and a lack of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3270974/bangladesh-student-protests-turn-deadly-demonstrators-bring-nation-standstill?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3270974/bangladesh-student-protests-turn-deadly-demonstrators-bring-nation-standstill?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Jul 2024 10:36:11 +0000 The motorbike courier carrying Saiful’s ticket to the future screeched to a halt outside Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal airport just an hour before his flight to Kuala Lumpur was due to take off. Saiful, 30, was among several thousand anxious Bangladeshis who crammed into the airport on Friday, desperate to make it to Malaysia but up against a midnight deadline for entry that was instituted to end a criminal jobs market which has duped tens of thousands of poor migrant workers. As the clock ticked,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3265186/nothing-left-me-thousands-bangladeshi-workers-lose-everything-failed-bid-work-malaysia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3265186/nothing-left-me-thousands-bangladeshi-workers-lose-everything-failed-bid-work-malaysia?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Jun 2024 10:30:16 +0000 The walkover poll win by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina signalled the death knell for Bangladeshi democracy and could presage more political instability, analysts said on Monday, after the public appeared to heed an opposition call to stay at home and boycott a “sham election”. Hasina’s ruling Awami League claimed 222 of 299 seats contested in Sunday’s election, according to unofficial results shared by the Election Commission on Monday, with independent candidates – dubbed “dummies” by the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3247685/bangladesh-election-hasinas-win-nail-coffin-democracy-troubles-loom-divided-nation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3247685/bangladesh-election-hasinas-win-nail-coffin-democracy-troubles-loom-divided-nation?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 08 Jan 2024 10:30:18 +0000 At a tea stall in a Dhaka alley, opposition activist Murtaza Famin says he has been jailed three times, faces a dozen further charges and has had to speed-learn basic counter-surveillance skills over YouTube to get by in Bangladesh, where multiplying risks meet critics of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Yet Murtaza, 33, said he still felt forced to join demonstrators over three days of strikes across the country, which have blocked transport in the capital, seen buses set ablaze and drawn tens of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3240106/strikes-clashes-roil-bangladesh-opposition-party-vows-boycott-polls-do-or-die-moment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3240106/strikes-clashes-roil-bangladesh-opposition-party-vows-boycott-polls-do-or-die-moment?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Nov 2023 11:00:19 +0000 Scanning the cafe between sips of his latte, Abir says caution is the byword of every gay man in Bangladesh. “People have been killed for talking about homosexuality,” he told This Week in Asia, using a pseudonym for his safety. “I guess I am always rightfully paranoid.” A doctor in his mid-30s who is a success by any measure and firmly upper middle-class, Abir remains unable to come out, fearing a rupture with his family, friends, colleagues and the patients at a job he loves. “I’m afraid my... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3225160/whats-celebrate-muted-pride-month-asias-lgbtq-folk-muslim-countries?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3225160/whats-celebrate-muted-pride-month-asias-lgbtq-folk-muslim-countries?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Jun 2023 03:30:12 +0000 Colourful cartoons now brighten the walls of an abandoned piece of land in the Mirpur district of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, as the delighted squeals of children playing on swings and seesaws carry the sound of respite from a city of 23 million people that gets bigger, dirtier and harder to live in by the day. The site, next to a waste dump, was formerly an illegal car park and hang-out for junkies. But Dhaka’s North City Corporation has transformed it into a green, child-friendly public space,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3222752/bangladeshs-fast-growing-capital-overflowing-garbage-can-it-turn-its-excess-waste-asset?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3222752/bangladeshs-fast-growing-capital-overflowing-garbage-can-it-turn-its-excess-waste-asset?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jun 2023 06:00:23 +0000