Four more murder cases against deposed Prime Minister Hasina and her associates in Bangladesh

Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina. File. | Photo credit: Reuters

At least four more murder charges have been filed against Bangladesh's deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her former cabinet ministers and staff, according to media reports on Sunday (25 August 2024).

On Sunday (25 August 2024), murder charges were filed against 76-year-old Ms Hasina, former Director General of Bangladesh Border Guards General Aziz Ahmed and 11 others over the death of Abdur Rahim, an officer of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), in 2010, state news agency BSS reported.

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Rahim, then Deputy Director General (DAD) of the former BDR, was an accused in the case related to the massacre that took place in Pilkhana in 2010. He died in custody on July 29 of the same year.

Rahim's son, lawyer Abdul Aziz, filed the case in the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Akteruzzaman.

On Sunday, another murder case was filed against Ms Hasina and 48 others for killing a student at the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) on July 18 during the anti-discrimination movement for students, the agency said.

The uncle of the victim Shaikh Ashabul Yeamin, Abdullah-Al Kabir, filed a petition before the court of Dhaka Chief Justice Md Saiful Islam on Sunday, asking that murder charges be brought against the 49 accused, it said.

The court allowed the application and directed the police to record the plaintiff's statement and register the complaint as a First Information Report (FIR).

Among those accused in the case were Awami League general secretary and former road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan.

A separate case has been filed against Hasina and 27 others for the killing of a seller of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) products in the capital during the recent protests.

Mamunur Rashid, brother-in-law of the victim Md Eusuf Sanowar, filed the complaint before Dhaka City Magistrate Saddam Hossain. The court asked the officer in charge of Jatrabari police station to register the case as a First Information Report (FIR).

The other prominent accused in the case are Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader and former ministers Anisul Huq and Tajul Islam.

Another case has been filed against 25 people, including Ms Hasina, over the killing of an auto-rickshaw driver in the capital during the recent protests.

Ms Hasina, the Awami League leader, is currently facing at least 53 cases, including 44 for murder, seven for crimes against humanity and genocide, one for kidnapping and one for an attack on a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) procession.

Ms Hasina resigned on August 5 and fled to India following unprecedented anti-government student protests against her government over a controversial job quota system.

The government led by Hasina was replaced by a caretaker government and 84-year-old Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was appointed its top adviser.

More than 230 people have died in Bangladesh in violence that erupted across the country following the overthrow of Hasina's government, bringing the death toll to over 600 since mass student protests against a controversial quota system for public jobs began in mid-July.