Bangladesh court issues fresh arrest warrant against 18, including former PM Hasina and daughter

Dhaka, April 10 (IANS) A Bangladesh court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant against 18 people, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her daughter Saima Wazed Putul, in a case filed on allegations of corruption in a plot allotment under the Purbachal New Town project, local media reported.

Dhaka City senior special judge, Zakir Hossain, issued the order on Thursday taking into cognisance the chargesheet filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The court ordered the submission of a progress report on the execution of the arrest warrant on May 5.

In another case of corruption in plot allotment, a chargesheet has been filed against 23 people, including Sheikh Hasina, Sheikh Rehana, and four other members of their family, Bangladesh's leading daily Prothom Alo reported, citing sources at the Dhaka court.

The former PM has been accused in a total of six cases on allegations of irregularities in plot allocation under the Purbachal New Town project.

Last month, a tribunal of Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant against Hasina and four others, including former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed, on alleged mass killing at Shapla Chattar in Dhaka in 2013.

In January, a special tribunal in Dhaka ordered an arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Hasina and 11 other people over incidents of enforced disappearances.

Ironically, the tribunal was established by the government led by Sheikh Hasina under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act to provide for the detection, prosecution and punishment of persons responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under International Law committed by the Pakistani Army, with the help of their local collaborators, in the territory of Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War.

Analysts reckon the developments as a major political vendetta being pursued by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus as several cases were filed against the former PM and her supporters on frivolous grounds immediately after her ouster in August 2024.

A leading voice in the struggle to restore democracy in the country, Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had to flee the country in an ignominious manner and seek refuge in India on August 5.

While addressing the Awami League supporters online from India in February, the ousted Prime Minister of Bangladesh accused the Yunus-led interim government of turning the nation into a hub of terrorism and lawlessness. She also vowed to return home, assuring help to families suffering and delivering them justice.

She said that if Yunus himself has acknowledged that he has no experience in running a nation, then he should refrain from doing so.

"Yunus has no experience of running a government. He dissolved all inquiry committees and unleashed the terrorists to butcher people. They are destroying Bangladesh. We will out this government of terrorists," said Hasina.

"I will return. The killers will face justice in Bangladesh. Their reckoning will happen on Bangladeshi soil. Perhaps that's why Allah has kept me alive," she had added.

--IANS

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