The International Criminal Tribunal for Bangladesh issued arrest warrants against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and several others. The tribunal has taken this action on allegations of forced disappearance of people and crimes against humanity during the Awami League rule.
According to media reports, a three-member International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ghulam Murtuza Majumdar took cognizance of the charges filed in two separate cases.
In these cases, Hasina and 29 others have been accused of detaining, torturing and disappearing political opponents in secret facilities run by security agencies, BDNews24 news portal reported.
According to state news agency BSS, the ICT has issued arrest warrants against Hasina and others involved in the case and has fixed October 22 to produce the accused in court.
Hasina had left the country for India on August 5 last year amid anti-government student-led protests.
In the first case, the prosecution filed five charges against 13 people, including Hasina and her former security and defense adviser Tariq Ahmed Siddiqui. These charges relate to alleged crimes committed in the Joint Interrogation Cell of the Directorate General of Army Intelligence.
The second case concerns Hasina, Siddiqui and 15 others over the disappearance and torture of detainees in a secret cell run by the Task Force Interrogation Unit of the Rapid Action Battalion.
