DHAKA (MNN); Bangladesh has formally requested India to extradite former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal after a Dhaka court convicted them of crimes against humanity.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) had found both individuals guilty and issued sentences, making it India’s responsibility to return them immediately for further legal proceedings.
According to The Daily Star, the ministry cautioned that sheltering individuals convicted of such serious crimes would be viewed as an “extremely unfriendly act” and an obstruction of justice. It said India is legally obligated under bilateral agreements to facilitate their extradition.
The ICT’s three-member bench issued a 453-page verdict convicting Sheikh Hasina on five counts of crimes against humanity. She received the death penalty on two charges linked to violent protest crackdowns and life imprisonment on three others. The tribunal also ordered the confiscation of assets belonging to Hasina and Kamal.
Charges included incitement, ordering lethal force on demonstrators, the murder of a student at Begum Rokeya University, the killing of six protesters in Dhaka, and the burning alive of six people in Ashulia.
A UN report previously noted that between July 15 and August 5 last year, nearly 1,400 people were killed and thousands wounded during anti-government protests, marking Bangladesh’s deadliest unrest since the 1971 Liberation War.
The International Crimes Tribunal operates as a domestic war crimes court under Bangladeshi law.
