Agence France-Presse
August 13, 2024
Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina during a press conference after the national election in Dhaka on Jan. 6, 2014 [AFP]
A court in Bangladesh opened a murder investigation into ousted ex-premier Sheikh Hasina and six top figures in her administration on Tuesday over the police killing of a man during civil unrest last month.
Hasina, 76, fled by helicopter to neighbouring India a week ago, where she remains, as protesters flooded Dhaka's streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted tenure.
More than 450 people were killed during the weeks of unrest leading up to her toppling.
"A case has been filed against Sheikh Hasina and six more," said Mamun Mia, a lawyer who brought the case on behalf of a private citizen.
He added that the Dhaka Metropolitan Court had ordered police to accept "the murder case against the accused persons", the first step in a criminal investigation under Bangladeshi law.
Mia's filing with the court also named Hasina's former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan and Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of Hasina's Awami League party.
It also names four top police officers appointed by Hasina's government who have since vacated their posts.
The case accuses the seven of responsibility for the death of a grocery store owner who was shot dead on July 19 by police violently suppressing protests.
The Daily Star newspaper reported that the case was brought on behalf of Amir Hamza Shatil, a resident of the neighbourhood where the shooting happened and a "well-wisher" of the victim.
'We don't deny this'
Hasina's government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents.
Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus returned from Europe three days after Hasina's ouster to head a temporary administration facing the monumental challenge of steering democratic reforms.
The 84-year-old won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering work in microfinance, and is credited with helping millions of Bangladeshis out of grinding poverty.
He took office as "chief adviser" to a caretaker administration – all fellow civilians bar home minister Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier general – and has said he wants to hold elections "within a few months".
Hossain said on Monday that the government had no intention of banning Hasina's Awami League, which played a pivotal role in the country's independence movement.
"The party has made many contributions to Bangladesh – we don't deny this," he told reporters on Monday.
"When the election comes, (they should) contest the elections."
AFP has contacted the caretaker administration for comment
Whitewashing the past: Students give Bangladesh a makeover
By AFP
August 13, 2024
Graffiti denouncing "Killer Hasina" proliferated on walls around Dhaka as the protests against her 15-rule intensified, and it is disappearing just as quickly - Copyright AFP LUIS TATO
Indranil MUKHERJEE and Luis TATO
Gone are the slogans of last week, demanding the “killer dictator” quit: if you ask Bangladesh’s youth whether they’re hopeful about the future, the writing literally is on the wall.
Students who led the weeks of protests that toppled autocratic premier Sheikh Hasina are back on the streets to give the capital Dhaka a makeover.
They are whitewashing walls to clear politically charged graffiti accusing her of murder and demanding her resignation at the height of this month’s unrest.
In their place, they are daubing elaborate and colourful murals hinting at widespread faith among Bangladeshis of a better tomorrow.
“We want to reform our Bangladesh,” Abir Hossain, 21, said as he and half a dozen classmates decorating a kerbside wall with the image of a bird flying out of its cage.
“We’re feeling proud,” he told AFP. “The bird is now free. We’re independent now.”
Students in paint-smeared shirts chatted and laughed with friends as they renovated the visual landscape of Shabagh, a leafy central neighbourhood that hosts the elite Dhaka University.
Colourful murals exhorted the public to “destroy the iron doors of prison” and celebrated Bangladesh’s “rebirth”.
“When the protests started, there were a lot of negative things written here,” Fiyaz Hossain, 21, told AFP.
“We are erasing them… so people younger than us don’t say them,” he added.
“We’re writing other things that they can say in the future.”
– ‘Shoot me in the chest’ –
Graffiti denouncing “Killer Hasina” proliferated on walls around Dhaka as the protests against her 15-rule intensified, and it is disappearing just as quickly.
“We want to deliver a message to the public that we have liberated this country from a dictator, and now we have to work together,” Nafisa Sara, 19, told AFP during a quick break from the paintbrush.
“The people will see that if the students and all of us work together, we can build the country,” she added.
But the impromptu public works project also shows that rancour towards the former leader remains widespread.
More than 450 people were killed in the unrest that ended last week when Hasina abruptly resigned and fled to India.
One of the murals depicts Abu Sayeed, a student shot dead in the northern city of Rangpur, the first student slain in a police crackdown on protests.
Footage of Sayeed’s last moments has been shown repeatedly on Bangladeshi television since Hasina’s departure breathed new life into a repressed media landscape.
The painting shows an image that has now been etched onto the national consciousness: the 25-year-old stretching his arms out wide in a defiant confrontation with riot police.
It is captioned with his reported last words: “Shoot me in the chest”.
A Dhaka court on Tuesday ruled that a criminal investigation for murder could proceed against Hasina, two of her senior lieutenants and four police officers for a separate police killing during the unrest.
The caretaker government that took office after her departure has yet to comment on whether it supports the case, or whether Hasina should return from exile to face some form of justice.
Student groups have in recent days held rallies to demand just that.
“She must be brought back to the country,” said Mohiuddin Rony, 25, “and she must face trial”.
By AFP
August 13, 2024
Graffiti denouncing "Killer Hasina" proliferated on walls around Dhaka as the protests against her 15-rule intensified, and it is disappearing just as quickly - Copyright AFP LUIS TATO
Indranil MUKHERJEE and Luis TATO
Gone are the slogans of last week, demanding the “killer dictator” quit: if you ask Bangladesh’s youth whether they’re hopeful about the future, the writing literally is on the wall.
Students who led the weeks of protests that toppled autocratic premier Sheikh Hasina are back on the streets to give the capital Dhaka a makeover.
They are whitewashing walls to clear politically charged graffiti accusing her of murder and demanding her resignation at the height of this month’s unrest.
In their place, they are daubing elaborate and colourful murals hinting at widespread faith among Bangladeshis of a better tomorrow.
“We want to reform our Bangladesh,” Abir Hossain, 21, said as he and half a dozen classmates decorating a kerbside wall with the image of a bird flying out of its cage.
“We’re feeling proud,” he told AFP. “The bird is now free. We’re independent now.”
Students in paint-smeared shirts chatted and laughed with friends as they renovated the visual landscape of Shabagh, a leafy central neighbourhood that hosts the elite Dhaka University.
Colourful murals exhorted the public to “destroy the iron doors of prison” and celebrated Bangladesh’s “rebirth”.
“When the protests started, there were a lot of negative things written here,” Fiyaz Hossain, 21, told AFP.
“We are erasing them… so people younger than us don’t say them,” he added.
“We’re writing other things that they can say in the future.”
– ‘Shoot me in the chest’ –
Graffiti denouncing “Killer Hasina” proliferated on walls around Dhaka as the protests against her 15-rule intensified, and it is disappearing just as quickly.
“We want to deliver a message to the public that we have liberated this country from a dictator, and now we have to work together,” Nafisa Sara, 19, told AFP during a quick break from the paintbrush.
“The people will see that if the students and all of us work together, we can build the country,” she added.
But the impromptu public works project also shows that rancour towards the former leader remains widespread.
More than 450 people were killed in the unrest that ended last week when Hasina abruptly resigned and fled to India.
One of the murals depicts Abu Sayeed, a student shot dead in the northern city of Rangpur, the first student slain in a police crackdown on protests.
Footage of Sayeed’s last moments has been shown repeatedly on Bangladeshi television since Hasina’s departure breathed new life into a repressed media landscape.
The painting shows an image that has now been etched onto the national consciousness: the 25-year-old stretching his arms out wide in a defiant confrontation with riot police.
It is captioned with his reported last words: “Shoot me in the chest”.
A Dhaka court on Tuesday ruled that a criminal investigation for murder could proceed against Hasina, two of her senior lieutenants and four police officers for a separate police killing during the unrest.
The caretaker government that took office after her departure has yet to comment on whether it supports the case, or whether Hasina should return from exile to face some form of justice.
Student groups have in recent days held rallies to demand just that.
“She must be brought back to the country,” said Mohiuddin Rony, 25, “and she must face trial”.
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