Bangladesh orders Hasina to return to face trial

DHAKA: Bangladesh´s war crimes court ordered fugitive ex-leader Sheikh Hasina on Monday to return to face trial on charges amounting to crimes against humanity.

Hasina, 77, fled Dhaka by helicopter to India in August 2024 at the culmination of a student-led mass uprising. She has defied an extradition order to return to Bangladesh. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 when Hasina´s government launched a crackdown in a failed bid to cling to power, according to the United Nations.

Hasina and former senior figures connected to her ousted government and her now-banned party, the Awami League, are being prosecuted in Bangladesh´s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT). Prosecutors have filed five charges against Hasina, including abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, conspiracy and failure to prevent mass murder -- charges that amount to crimes against humanity under Bangladeshi law.

“The court directed the prosecution team to issue a notice as soon as possible summoning them to appear before the court,” chief prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam said on Monday. The trial will resume on June 24 without her if she fails to return. The prosecution argues that Hasina ordered security forces, through directives from the interior ministry and police, to crush the protests.