Bangladesh Officially Sends Letter To New Delhi Seeking Extradition Of Ex Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ; UN Lauds Court Verdict, But Regrets Death Penalty

File Picture : ANI / X

Bangladesh’s interim government of Muhammad Yunus has sent an official letter to New Delhi seeking the extradition of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina after the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) sentenced her to death.

The letter was sent the day before yesterday (Friday), the state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported, quoting foreign affairs adviser Touhid Hossain as saying without elaboration.

The special Bangladeshi tribunal on November 17 handed Hasina, 78, the capital punishment along with then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on charges of committing crimes against humanity after their trial in absentia while both are staying in India.

The third accused in the case, former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, who faced the trial in person was handed a five-year jail term as he appeared as an approver or state witness.

Hasina’s Awami League government was toppled in a student-led violent protest termed as the ‘July Uprising’ on August 5 last year.

The United Nations has said that the verdict against Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity is an ‘important moment’ for the victims, but expressed regret over the imposition of the death penalty.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres ‘fully’ agrees with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on the position that ‘we stand against the use of the death penalty in all circumstances’, the UN chief’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing here on Monday.

Dujarric was responding to a question on the Secretary-General’s reaction to a Bangladeshi court sentencing Hasina to death in absentia.