Bangladesh has formally asked India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for her crackdown on student protests last year. Interim Foreign Minister Tauheed Hussain confirmed the request, a first in bilateral history. Former Indian Ambassador Pinak Chakraborty suggested that Indian courts could ultimately decide on extradition, raising significant legal and diplomatic questions for New Delhi.
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Hasina’s party announces nationwide protests
Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party on Tuesday announced a nationwide agitation and protest march till November 30 against the death penalty. Ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and then Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal were sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal on November 17 for “crimes against humanity” committed during mass protests against her government in July last year.
In its verdict following a months-long trial, Bangladesh’s International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) described the 78-year-old Awami League leader as the “mastermind and key facilitator” of the violent crackdown that left hundreds of protesters dead. Hasina is currently in India, while it is believed that Kamaal is also hiding in India.
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In a post on its official social media account, the Awami League alleged that the tribunal’s decision is part of a political conspiracy by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government to keep Hasina and her party out of the elections to be held in February next year. The Awami League announced to organize protests and resistance marches in all districts and upazilas till 30 November, rejecting the ICT Tribunal’s decision as illegal and demanding Yunus’ resignation.