Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been charged with crimes against humanity following what prosecutors describe as a “systematic attack” on mass protests against her regime in 2024. At the opening of her trial, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) stated that Hasina, now 77 and living in self-imposed exile in India, orchestrated a brutal campaign to suppress student-led demonstrations that erupted across the country. Chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told the court that Hasina used state law enforcement and armed members of her now-banned Awami League party to violently crush dissent, resulting in nearly 1,400 civilian deaths between July and August 2024.

The charges against Hasina include abetment, conspiracy, incitement, and failure to prevent mass murder. She is being tried in absentia, alongside former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, both of whom face similar allegations of complicity. The tribunal claims the government under Hasina systematically targeted protesters with lethal force, arbitrary detentions, and other forms of repression. These prosecutions fulfill a long-standing demand by opposition forces and rights groups seeking accountability for years of alleged abuses committed during Hasina’s 15-year tenure in power.

In the weeks following the crackdown, Hasina fled Bangladesh by helicopter to New Delhi on August 5, 2024, just as protests toppled her government. She has since denounced the charges as politically motivated and continues to reside in India. Meanwhile, the interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has banned the Awami League under the Anti-Terrorism Act and vowed to conduct democratic elections by mid-2026. As the nation transitions from decades of authoritarian rule, the ICT trial is being viewed as a pivotal moment for justice and democratic accountability in Bangladesh.