Bangladesh revokes passport of former PM Sheikh Hasina, 96 others

New Delhi: Bangladesh’s interim government, run by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, has revoked the passport of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The decision was announced by the interim government in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Passports of a total of 97 individuals, including the ousted prime minister, have been revoked in the wake of the criminal proceedings against these individuals in the country.

While 22 of these individuals are facing charges for alleged involvement in enforced disappearances, 75 others face allegations of involvement in killings during the student protests in Bangladesh last year.

The development comes just a day after the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) issued arrest warrants against Sheikh Hasina and 11 others in the case of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings during her tenure.

The tribunal has set a deadline of February 12 for the accused, including Hasina, to be arrested and produced before it.

The order was issued during a hearing on Monday, January 6. Amongst the other accused are Major General (retd) Tariq Ahmed Siddique, who served as Hasina’s defence advisor; former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed; and former Director General of the National Telecommunication Monitoring Center (NTMC), Ziaul Ahsan.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs first started in mid-July.

The Bangladeshi Awami League chief left the country on August 5 last year and sought refuge in India.