DHAKA, Bangladesh
A Bangladeshi court has issued a second arrest warrant for exiled former leader Sheikh Hasina, this time for her alleged role in enforced disappearances, the chief prosecutor said on Monday.
Dhaka has already issued an
arrest warrant on charges of crimes against humanity for 77-year-old Hasina,
who fled to old ally India in August after she was toppled by a student-led
revolution.
Her 15-year tenure saw
widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial
killings of her political opponents.
Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor
of the domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), said the second warrant
relates to enforced disappearances during her rule.
More than 500 people were
allegedly abducted by Bangladeshi security personnel, with some detained in
secret facilities for years.
Victims have begun coming
forward since Hasina's ouster with harrowing accounts of their ordeals.
"The court issued a warrant against
Sheikh Hasina and 11 others, including her military adviser, military
personnel, and other law enforcement officials," Islam told reporters.
Bangladesh asked India in
December to send Hasina back to face trial, a demand to which Delhi declined to
respond.
Islam said the court wanted to
go ahead with the trial.
"We want to ensure the
trial concludes as soon as possible, but that doesn't mean we will break the
law or impose a verdict without due process," he told reporters.
Dozens of Hasina's allies have
been taken into custody since her government collapsed, accused of involvement
in a police crackdown that killed more than 700 people during the unrest that
led to her ouster.
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