Hasina, at ICC, charges Yunus government with crimes against humanity

New Delhi: Sheikh Hasina, the deposed Prime Minister of Bangladesh, has filed a petition with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague accusing the Mohammad Yunus-led interim government of Bangladesh of crimes against humanity.

Through her lawyer, Steven Powles KC of Doughty Street Chambers, London, Sheikh Hasina has filed an Article 15 Communication with the Prosecutor of the ICC, requesting that the Prosecutor initiate an investigation into retaliatory violence committed against members and office-bearers of the Awami League party and members of the previous Cabinet and government.

She has claimed that the crimes committed by the Interim Government in the aftermath of the protests in Bangladesh, which resulted in her being forced to flee the country in August 2024, amount to crimes within the court’s jurisdiction. This article allows the ICC to initiate investigation of any serious complaint.

Bangladesh ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC on 23rd March 2010 and the statute entered into force for Bangladesh on 1st June 2010. The former Premier’s argument is that they are competent to file a case in the ICC.

The communication from Powles states that there is a reasonable basis to believe that the alleged crimes set out in the petition amount to the crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment and persecution, warranting the initiation of an investigation by the Prosecutor. These offences have no realistic prospect of being genuinely investigated or prosecuted in the courts of Bangladesh and, therefore, impunity for them would otherwise result.

Steven Powles KC has represented a number of high profile clients, who have themselves been accused of most “serious crimes”

The communication highlights allegations of the killing of 400 Awami League leaders and activists since July 2024, many through beatings and lynching, perpetrated by violent mobs. The communication is supported by witness testimony accompanied by video evidence, which detail brutal killings.

The communication further details a pattern in which persons associated with the Awami League, or perceived to be associated with it, have been arrested on unsubstantiated grounds and imprisoned without bail or charges filed. Politicians, judges, lawyers, journalists as well as people only tenuously affiliated with the Awami League, such as actors, and singers, have been the subject of arrests. The communication outlines that 25 people affiliated with the Awami League have died in custody since August 2024. The bodies of several of those who were reported to have died of heart attacks showed “tell-tale signs of torture.”

It further goes on to explain how, in February 2025, the Bangladesh Interim Administration, an unelected caretaker government, launched Operation “Devils Hunt,” with the stated aim of combating “Awami fascism.” This measure was conducted as a joint initiative by police forces and the Army. It has been reported that 18,000 people were arrested over the course of 12 days of this witch hunt. The communication to the ICC Prosecutor also states that on 14th October, 2024, the Interim administration issued an immunity order to protect criminals who were torturing people aligned with the Awami League.

Since there is no prospect, or hope, of any investigation and prosecution within Bangladesh, the best chance for justice is for the ICC prosecutor to open an investigation.

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