Special tribunal begins proceedings against former Bangladeshi prime minister News
DelwarHossain, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Special tribunal begins proceedings against former Bangladeshi prime minister

A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Friday accepted formal charges against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and several former government officials concerning the crackdown on the 2024 protests that left hundreds of students killed.

Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam submitted crimes against humanity charges before a three-member tribunal, stating that the trial represents not revenge for the past, but a pledge to future generations.

Tajul stated that the 2024 uprising was sparked by deep social discontent against the prolonged repressive and authoritarian rule. He noted that evidence indicates that from July to August of 2024, the government responded with systematic violence to crush the student-led protests—constituting crimes against humanity.

In July and August of 2024, Bangladesh faced nationwide student protests against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her autocratic rule. Initially sparked as a peaceful protest against a civil service quota favoring descendants of 1971 war veterans, it turned violent after security forces brutally responded with a crackdown and curfew.

In February 2025, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) found that as many as 1,400 people were killed during these protests, with 12 to 13 percent being children, with several victims shot at close range. The report concluded that the government had engaged in brutal, systematic, and directed violence against the protesters, part of a broader effort to suppress dissent.

The International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh was established in 2009 to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh, particularly crimes committed by the Pakistani Army and their local paramilitary and militia armies. Since then, the tribunal has indicted and tried several individuals, meeting with both support for its goal and criticism for its proceedings.

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