A court in Bangladesh has initiated a murder investigation into former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and six top officials from her administration.
The investigation is related to the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month. Hasina, 76, fled to India by helicopter a week ago and remains there.
Mamun Mia, the lawyer who filed the case, stated, “A case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina and six more.” He added that the Dhaka Metropolitan Court ordered police to accept “the murder case against the accused persons,” which is the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law.
The case names Hasina, her former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Obaidul Quader (general secretary of Hasina’s Awami League party), and four top police officers appointed by Hasina’s government. The accused are charged with responsibility for the death of a grocery store owner shot dead by police on July 19 during protests.
The Daily Star reported that the case was brought on behalf of Amir Hamza Shatil, a resident of the neighborhood where the shooting occurred and a “well-wisher” of the victim.
Hasina’s government faced accusations of widespread human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings of political opponents. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned from Europe to head a temporary administration tasked with steering democratic reforms.
Yunus, 84, took office as “chief adviser” to a caretaker administration and aims to hold elections “within a few months.”
Home Minister Sakhawat Hossain stated that the government has no intention of banning Hasina’s Awami League, saying, “The party has made many contributions to Bangladesh — we don’t deny this. When the election comes, (they should) contest the elections.”