Bangladesh's International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) on Monday issued arrest warrants against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 11 others, including former military generals and an ex-police chief, for their alleged role in incidents of enforced disappearances.
This was the second arrest warrant issued by the ICT against Hasina, who escaped to India after her Awami League regime was overthrown due to unprecedented anti-government protests in August last year. The tribunal has so far recorded three cases against her.
"Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mojumdar, chairman of the tribunal, issued the arrest warrant after hearing a prosecution plea," an ICT official said.
The Inspector General of Police was ordered to arrest the twelve people, including Hasina, and produce them before the tribunal on February 12 in the case filed over complaints of enforced disappearances of several hundred people.
The case includes then-defence adviser to the deposed premier Major General (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique and former IGP Benazir Ahmed. While Siddique is in custody, Ahmed is said to have gone into hiding.
ICT Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam did not reveal the names of most of the accused "in the interest of investigations and their arrest".
The next hearing for this case is also set on February 12. The tribunal has asked the investigation report to be submitted on that day if it is prepared," Islam told reporters later.
He, however said that if the investigation report cannot be submitted then, the law enforcement agencies will have to furnish a progress report on the arrests. Islam informed the tribunal that the deposed regime had made a culture of enforced disappearances under state patronization.
The chief prosecutor added that rewards have been given to people involved in performing these disappearances. According to him, such agencies have commonly been utilized more frequently in conducting the purposes-the elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), police's Detective Branch (DB), the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI).
"Over the past 15 years, a culture of fear was developed in Bangladesh due to enforced disappearance and crossfires. Thousands have been abducted from different forces. Most of these people never return," Islam added while talking with journalists.
Last month, Dhaka formally requested Hasina's extradition from India. New Delhi has accepted the receipt of the letter, though it has made no comment on it. The ICT first issued an arrest warrant against the former prime minister on October 17 on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity alleged to have been committed during the July-August protests and uprising.
After the fall of the Awami League government, at least 60 cases or complaints of enforced disappearances, killings, genocide, and crimes against humanity were lodged at the ICT, accusing Hasina, leaders of her party and its allies, and senior officials of different law enforcement agencies.
The provisional report by a commission formed by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus's interim government last month alleged participation by Hasina, her officials, and even neighboring India in the incidents of enforced disappearance.
The commission said it recorded 1,676 complaints of enforced disappearances and so far examined 758, of which 27 per cent of the victims never returned.
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