The interim authorities of Bangladesh on Saturday introduced that it could ban all actions of the Awami League, the political occasion of the nation’s ousted chief Sheikh Hasina, below the nation’s antiterrorism act till a number of authorized instances in opposition to the occasion and its leaders have concluded.
The federal government, led by the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, additionally amended a regulation to make sure that a whole occasion might be tried for sure crimes, not simply particular person members.
Final summer time, Ms. Hasina’s authoritarian authorities was toppled by a pupil protest motion. She fled to India, however the Awami League maintained a presence in Bangladesh.
When Hasnat Abdullah, one of many leaders of final yr’s rebellion, was attacked final week, supporters of Ms. Hasina’s occasion have been blamed. That prompted extra pupil outrage and calls for for harder motion in opposition to the Awami League.
“Our final objective is to see that the Awami League is banned,” Mr. Hasnat stated throughout a protest on Saturday. “Even when I make no additional bulletins, don’t go away the streets till the Awami League is banned.”
Tons of of individuals, together with college students in wheelchairs or on crutches who had been injured throughout protests final yr, joined the rally and demanded that the Awami League be banned. Different political events, together with the coed wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolan, and members of Hefazat-e-Islam, a nonpolitical Islamic strain group, additionally joined the demonstration.
On Saturday night, the regulation minister, Asif Nazrul, stated the federal government would ban “all actions” of the Awami League below Bangladesh’s Anti-Terrorism Act “till the trials of the occasion and its leaders on the Worldwide Crimes Tribunal are accomplished.”
The tribunal, regardless of its identify, is a home courtroom, and can finally rule on accusations that Awami League members dedicated atrocities through the 2024 protests. The interim authorities says that the authorized modification was to make sure that a political occasion shouldn’t be in a position to disown a person member as a foul actor whereas persevering with to again dangerous habits.
An inquiry fee shaped by the interim authorities said in December that Ms. Hasina orchestrated mass disappearances throughout her 15 years in energy.
Individually, a United Nations fact-finding committee stated in February that not less than 1,400 folks, together with kids, have been killed by regulation enforcement and members of Ms. Hasina’s occasion throughout final yr’s protests.
In a Fb publish, the Awami League alluded to the unelected nature of the interim authorities in a touch upon the modification: “Choices of an illegitimate authorities are additionally illegitimate themselves.”
In 2024, pupil protests in opposition to a job reservation system grew into an enormous rebellion fueled by frustration and anger at Ms. Hasina’s rule. Tensions escalated after the demise of a protester in mid-July, which led her administration to dam the web, impose curfews and order military, paramilitary and police forces to crack down on the protesters.
Ms. Hasina fled Bangladesh on Aug. 5, narrowly escaping the 1000’s of protesters marching towards her residence. Three days later, Mr. Yunus took an oath as the brand new head of the federal government.
