New Murder Charges Filed Against Bangladesh’s Former PM Sheikh Hasina and Her Aides

Sheikh Hasina/ File Photo

At least four more murder cases have been filed against Bangladesh's deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her former cabinet colleagues, and aides, according to media sources on Sunday.

One of the cases was filed on Sunday against Hasina, the former Director General of Border Guard Bangladesh, Gen Aziz Ahmed, and 11 others. The charges stem from the murder of Abdur Rahim, a former deputy assistant director of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), who died in jail custody on 29 July 2010. Rahim was one of the suspects in the Pilkhana massacre of 2010. Rahim's son, Advocate Abdul Aziz, filed the case with the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, the PTI reported.

Another murder case was also registered on Sunday against Hasina and 48 others, involving the death of Shaikh Ashabul Yeamin, a student of the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement on 18 July, the news agency report stated. The victim's uncle, Abdullah-Al Kabir, filed the case at the Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court. The court accepted the petition and directed the police to record the complaint as a first information report (FIR).

The accused in this case include Obaidul Quader, General Secretary of the Awami League and former Minister of Road Transport and Bridges, and Asaduzzaman Khan, former Home Minister, the report added.

Hasina and 25 others are also facing prosecution for the death of an auto-rickshaw driver during recent protests in the city, the report added.

Reportedly, Sheikh Hasina, the Awami League's chief, is now facing a total of 53 cases. These include 44 killings, seven crimes against humanity and genocide, one kidnapping, and one attack on a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) march.

Hasina resigned and fled to India on August 5 following historic student-led protests against her government, sparked by dissatisfaction with a contentious quota system in government posts. Following the protests, her government was replaced by an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is 84 years old.

Over 230 people have died in Bangladesh as a result of the violence that erupted across the country following the fall of Hasina's government, increasing the total death toll to more than 600 since the protests began in mid-July.