The interim government of Bangladesh claims it has no intention of outlawing the political party of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina, therefore contradicting the student revolutionaries who toppled her in an uprising last year.
During her 15-year rule, Hasina’s Awami League was accused of widespread violations of human rights, including a brutal crackdown on last year’s protest movement killing more than 800 people.
Student leaders still in mourning for the murders of their friends have urged the party be banned. But Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the de facto head of the caretaker administration established following her overthrow, claimed it had no intention of doing so.
A government statement released late Thursday said, “Professor Yunus stated that the interim government has no plans to ban the party.” “Those within its leadership accused of crimes, including murder and crimes against humanity, will be tried in Bangladesh’s courts, though.”
Hasina, who fled her toppling into India, and her aides have already had arrest warrants issued by a tribunal in Dhaka.
Last month, a fact-finding trip by the UN rights office revealed that her government was behind deliberate attacks and murders of protestors in an effort to hang onto power last year. It determined “reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, imprisonment, and the infliction of other inhumane acts have taken place.”
Since she was deposed, students have regularly asked that the party be outlawed ahead of elections for a new administration, expected by June next year.
