Trial begins of ex-Bangladeshi leader for crimes against humanity

Rakib Hossain was just 11 years old when, standing innocently on the streets of Dhaka in July last year, he was killed by a bullet to the head – fired allegedly by the police

Hossain was one of more than 1,400 men, women and children killed in Bangladesh’s so-called July revolution, when hundreds of thousands across the country rose up in protest against the country’s leader, Sheikh Hasina.

Her attempts to crush the mass movement included deploying heavily armed police, who – with shoot-to-kill orders – fired live ammunition at civilians on the streets. Ultimately, the crackdown was unsuccessful and Ms Hasina was forced to flee Bangladesh in a helicopter on August 5th last year, as angry protesters marched towards her residence and the military refused to forcefully stop them.

Now, just over a year since Rakib was killed, the trial of Ms Hasina will begin on August 3rd, as she stands accused of being responsible for the death of the 11-year-old and many others over those weeks.

After months of evidence gathering, Bangladeshi prosecutors have charged her with crimes against humanity, including charges of order, incitement, complicity, conspiracy, and abetment of murder, torture and other inhuman acts. Her trial will be held before three judges of Bangladesh’s international crimes tribunal (ICT); a court that Ms Hasina set up herself while in power.

Ms Hasina will not be there. Since last August, she has been in India despite protests by the interim government leading Bangladesh. Multiple extradition requests for Ms Hasina have been ignored.

With the possibility she would be given the death penalty if found guilty, few believe Ms Hasina will come back voluntarily. She has refused to be part of the proceedings except to plead not guilty, and has been given a state-appointed defence lawyer as she is being tried in absentia.

In the days leading up to the trial, efforts have been made by Ms Hasina and her Awami League party to discredit it and the tribunal, denying the charges and claiming they had received no formal legal notices of them. In an open letter published on Friday, Ms Hasina described the protests that toppled her as a “violent interruption of our hard-fought democracy” and promised to “reclaim the institutions that were unlawfully seized”.

Rakib’s father, Abul Khayer, spoke of his anger that Ms Hasina would not be present in court. “I want to see Hasina tried in person,” he said. “She should face the families and answer for what she did. But India won’t give her back. Everyone knows that.”

A year since his son was killed, Mr Khayer said his grief had hardened into disillusionment and he expressed doubts that the tribunal would deliver true justice or accountability.

After the toppling of Ms Hasina, a wave of optimism gripped Bangladesh, as an interim government led by Nobel prize-winner Muhammad Yunus was brought in with sweeping promises of democratic reform and accountability. But faith in the interim government has faded over the past year as many of the promised reforms have failed to materialize and Mr Yunus has struggled to bring the deteriorating law and order situation and attacks against minorities under control.

With the country’s first elections since the fall of Hasina due in February, Mr Khayer feared the trial would become politicised. “Everyone has seen in the past how most often these kinds of cases have been used to gain political scores,” he said. “The trials are dragged for years to serve people’s political ambition.”

Still, he insisted the trial should still go forward, if only to document the truth. “I don’t need her to sit in a dock to know what she did. She gave the orders. Everyone knows that. Let the world hear it.”

For the many who saw their relatives and friends killed last July, the trial is a vital first step towards justice. While some senior government ministers and police officials were arrested, many in Hasina’s regime fled the country and remain abroad. In an effort to make the trial as transparent as possible, much of it will be live streamed on television, except for moments where sensitive witnesses are testifying.

It is also just the beginning. Investigators are still working on bringing Ms Hasina to trial for other atrocities allegedly committed during her 15 years in power, including enforced disappearances and the killing, torture and mass incarceration of opponents and critics.

Mohammad Tajul Islam, the chief prosecutor of the ICT, said the prosecution and investigation agency of the court had been “working relentlessly” since September to find witnesses and gather evidence to bring Hasina to trial. He described it as a “very challenging task, particularly because destruction of evidence and the involvement of a huge number of perpetrators”.

Islam noted that some allegedly involved remained in positions of power, often making victims and witnesses reluctant to come forward.

He said he was confident that the prosecution had a strong case to prove crimes against humanity were committed by Ms Hasina. Among the key witnesses will be her former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun, who has already pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against the former prime minister.

While some have questioned whether Bangladesh’s judicial system – which was systematically eroded under Ms Hasina – was capable of conducting a free and fair trial for Ms Hasina, Mr Islam said reforms had brought the ICT in line with international best practices. “It is critical for accountability and the rule of law, and also for the victims who seek justice,” he said. “Her intended absence from the trial should not shield her from justice.”

Mohammad Arafat, who served as a senior minister in Ms Hasina’s government and is also facing charges, called the tribunal a “political show trial”.

“The Awami League categorically rejects the politically motivated charges brought against its leadership,” he said. “I urge the international community to recognise this tribunal for what it is: a tool to criminalise political opposition and rewrite lawful governance as criminality.”

Mubashar Hasan, a political scientist who was forced into exile after he was abducted and tortured and is now a researcher at Western Sydney University, was among those who said that in an “ideal scenario” Ms Hasina would instead be put on trial at the international criminal court in The Hague.

The Yunus-led interim government has already banned the Awami League party from taking part in the elections expected early next year, but critics have said this undermines the democratic nature of the polls, given that Awami League is still one of the country’s largest parties.

The election is expected to be swept by the Bangladesh Nationalist party, whose leadership suffered years of persecution under Ms Hasina. Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the Islamist party which was banned under Ms Hasina, is also expected to do well, which has raised concerns about the rise of Islamic hardliners undermining the country’s secular foundations. — The Guardian