A Bangladesh court has ordered the issuance of an arrest warrant for exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid, who fled to India after a student-led revolution in August.
According to the foreign news agency ‘AFP’, Chief Prosecutor of Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal Mohammad Tajul Islam told the journalists that the court has ordered the arrest of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid and to produce her by November 18.
Hasina Wajid’s 15-year rule has seen widespread human rights violations, including mass detentions and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
Mohammad Tajul Islam called it a “memorable day” and said that during the reign of Sheikh Hasina Wajid, killings and crimes against humanity were committed during the period of July to August.
Sheikh Hasina Wajid, 77, has not been seen since fleeing Bangladesh and her last official residence is a military airbase near the Indian capital, New Delhi.
Their presence in India has angered citizens in Bangladesh.
Dhaka revoked Sheikh Hasina Wajid’s diplomatic passport even though the two countries have a bilateral extradition treaty that would allow him to be brought back to face criminal charges.
However, according to a clause in the treaty, extradition can be refused if the crime is of a ‘political nature’.
Hasina’s government created the controversial ICT in 2010 to investigate atrocities during the 1971 partition.
The United Nations and rights groups criticized its procedural shortcomings, and it was widely seen as a means of eliminating Sheikh Hasina Wajid’s political opponents.
