Bangladesh interim govt bans former PM Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League

Bangladesh’s interim government, headed by chief advisor Muhammad Yunus, on Saturday announced a ban on deposed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s party, the Awami League.

Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is in India after fleeing her country to escape a student-led movement protesting her regime.(AP file)

Yunus’s interim government announced that the Awami League was being banned under an anti-terrorism law and said, “The official gazette notification will be issued in this regard on the next working day.”

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A statement of the council of advisers or the cabinet decided that the ban would remain effective until the completion of the “trial of the Awami League and its leaders in Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal in the interest of protecting the country’s security and sovereignty”.

The need for the security of the leaders and activists of the July 2024 uprising was also cited as a reason for the ban. The initial protests against a reservation system snowballed into an anti-Hasina movement as her government launched a severe crackdown on demonstrating students. Since then, 77-year-old Hasina fled Dhaka and has been living in India.

The meeting that decided on the ban, chaired by Yunus, also amended the ICT law to allow the tribunal to try any political party, its front organisations, and affiliated bodies.

Apart from a corruption case, Hasina is accused of numerous charges like mass murders and crimes against humanity, and enforced disappearances, while these cases were being filed with Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal.

Last month, a court in Bangladesh issued arrest warrants against Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, British MP Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, and 50 others in connection with the alleged illegal acquisition of land by abusing political power.

The student-led National Citizen Party (NCP) has also been calling for Hasina to be tried for alleged “wrongdoings” during her regime. The new party had also asked the Awami League not to participate in the general elections.