Sheikh Hasina's problems will increase; genocide case filed before International Criminal Court

Violence in Bangladesh: The problems of deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina are set to deepen further. A case was filed today in the International Criminal Court against Sheikh Hasina and several others, accusing them of committing genocide and crimes against humanity during a mass demonstration by students against their government. An official of the Investigation Bureau of the International Criminal Court (ICT) said, “This case was filed by the father of one of the students who died after being shot by police during the protest.” A Supreme Court lawyer filed this complaint on behalf of Bulbul Kabir, the father of ninth-grader Arif Ahmed Siam, who was shot by police during the August 5 protests. The Daily Star newspaper quoted Ataur Rahman, deputy director of the investigation agency, as saying: “We have registered the complaint and started investigation into the matter.” He said: “After completing the investigation, we will submit the report to the Attorney General's Office of the Tribunal for further proceedings.” According to the state news agency BSS, the complaint accuses Hasina and several others of committing “genocide and crimes against humanity.”Hasina accused of mass murderThe complaint was filed at a time when the interim government announced that the killings, committed between July 1 and August 5, would be tried at the International Criminal Court. The complaint accuses Hasina, 76, and others of committing mass murder between July 15 and August 5. Under the procedure, the agency must investigate the complaints and then file a case with the ICT-Bangladesh, which was originally set up to prosecute Bengali-speaking criminals who sided with Pakistani forces in the 1971 war of independence.Apart from Hasina, these people can also be prosecutedThe complaint also includes the names of Hasina's Awami League general secretary and former transport minister Obaidul Quader, former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former deputy information and broadcasting minister Mohammad Ali Arafat and several senior police officials. More than 230 people have been killed in Bangladesh in violence that erupted across the country after the overthrow of Hasina's government on August 5. The death toll has risen to 560 during the three weeks of violence that began with a student movement against the controversial job reservation system.