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Ex-Bangladesh leader tells BBC she’s not guilty of crimes against humanity
Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has denied committing crimes against humanity during a deadly crackdown on last year’s uprising that ousted her, days before the special tribunal trying her is due to deliver a verdict.
Hasina is accused of being the main architect behind hundreds of killings during the mass protests against her autocratic rule – an allegation she denies.
In her first interview with the BBC since she fled the country on 5 August 2024, she said her trial in absentia was a “farce” orchestrated by a “kangaroo court” controlled by political opponents.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Hasina if she is found guilty on Monday.
Hasina claimed the trial was destined to deliver a “pre-ordained guilty verdict”.
Security has been tightened in and around the tribunal in the capital Dhaka ahead of Monday’s verdict.
It will mark a significant moment for the country as well as for the relatives of those killed during the student-led anti-government protests that ousted Hasina.
UN human rights investigators have said up to 1,400 people were killed when Hasina and her government used systematic, deadly violence against protesters in the failed bid to hold onto power.
The former prime minister has refused to return from India to attend the trial.
She has been accused of personally ordering security forces to fire at protesters in the weeks before she fled.
In an email interview, Hasina told the BBC she “categorically” denied such allegations. “I’m not denying that the situation got out of control, nor that many lives were lost needlessly. But I never issued any order to fire on unarmed civilians,” she said.
Leaked audio of one of her phone calls verified by BBC Eye earlier this year suggested that she had aauthorised the use of ‘lethal weapons’ in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the trial.
Hasina was formally indicted along with two others in July this year. They are former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
Prosecutors have sought the death penalty for the former, who is in hiding. The latter pleaded guilty in July but has not been handed a sentence.
Speaking about the trial, Hasina said she hadn’t been able to defend herself or appoint her own lawyers. She added her political opponents had gone after her in an attempt to “liquidate” her Awami League party as a political force.
Lawyers representing her issued a statement on Monday saying they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN raising serious fair trial and due process issues at the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh.
The Awami League is already banned from standing in general elections due in February.
The BBC interview also covered other serious allegations of abuses committed during Hasina’s 15-year rule, which will be heard in another case at the special tribunal. Hasina denies charges of crimes against humanity in that case too.
After Hasina was ousted from power, a number of secret jails were discovered holding prisoners who had been detained for years without any legal process. Many other critics and opponents of Hasina who had been abducted or held in these prisons are alleged to have been killed unlawfully.
Asked who was responsible for this, Hasina said she “did not have knowledge” of them.
She also denied her involvement in alleged extra-judicial killings and disappearances, which rights group say she was responsible for as the head of government during her leadership.
“This is denied in terms of my own involvement, but if there is evidence of abuse by officials, let us have it examined properly in an impartial, depoliticised process,” she said.
Hasina and other senior members of her former government are also facing trial for corruption in a separate court, charges they deny.
[BBC]
New Zealand 135 in 36.2 overs (RS Ambrish 4-29, Henil Patel 3-23) lost to India 130/3 in 13.3 overs (Vaibhav Suryavanshi 40, Ayush Mhatre 53) by 7 wickets [DLS Method]
[Cricbuzz]
Josh Hoey had said he was excited to take a shot at the world 800m short track record in Boston and he was right on target as he clocked 1:42.50* to improve the 28-year-old mark at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix – the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of the season – on Saturday (24).
Seven weeks on from setting a world 600m short track best, also in Boston, the US world indoor champion made more history as he took 0.17 off the world record of 1:42.67 set by Wilson Kipketer at the World Indoor Championships in Paris in 1997.
Hoey went into the race as the second-fastest indoor 800m runner of all time thanks to the North American record of 1:43.24 he ran at the US Indoor Championships in New York last year. But paced by his brother Jaxson, he leapt to the top of that all-time list, winning the race by more than two seconds.
Jaxson led his brother through the first 200m in 24.81 before 400m was reached in 50.21. Jaxson then stepped aside and Josh passed 600m in 1:16.19, holding on to cross the finish line in 1:42.50.
“We did a lot of pacing work,” said Josh, reflecting on his preparations for the race. “Just kind of kept steadily improving, taking it week by week, block by block, and we were able to make
this work.”
A world best had been set earlier in the programme, USA’s 2024 world indoor 1500m bronze medallist Hobbs Kessler clocking 4:48.79 to break the 2000m short track world best of 4:49.99 set by Kenenisa Bekele almost 19 years ago.
World short track 3000m record-holder Grant Fisher also dipped under the old world best, finishing second in 4:49.48.
[World Athletics]
US President Donald Trump has threatened to slap a 100% tariff on Canadian goods if the country strikes a trade deal with China.
“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.,” Trump said on Truth Social.
It is unclear what deal Trump is referring to in his social media post. Last week, Canada’s Prime Minister Carney announced a strategic partnership with China, and agreed to reduce tariffs.
At the time, Trump called the move “a good thing”. But tensions between the US and Canada have grown in recent days, after Carney said in a speech in Davos that the US-led world order had been ruptured.
Carney also urged other “middle powers” to band together in the face of economic coercion by “greater powers”, though he did not mention Trump by name.
Trump responded to the remarks in his own speech the next day, saying: “Canada lives because of the United States.”
The US president also withdrew an invitation for Canada to join his new Board of Peace.
On Saturday, Trump said in his social media post that if Carney “thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken”.
The BBC has contacted the White House and Carney’s office for comment.
Canada’s US trade minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement: “There is no pursuit of a free trade deal with China.”
“What was achieved was resolution on several important tariff issues.”
LeBlanc said the government was focused on building a stronger Canadian economy and strengthening trade partnerships “throughout the world”.
Canada has been seeking to diversify trade away from the US, its largest trade partner, following the uncertainty caused by Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs.
Under the agreement reached between Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, China will lower levies on Canadian canola oil from 85% to 15% by March, while Canada will tax Chinese EVs at the most-favoured-nation rate, 6.1% – down from 100%.
The deal was seen as a breakthrough after years of strained ties and tit-for-tat tariffs, and could see more Chinese investments in Canada.
Carney said the progress made with China sets Canada up “well for the new world order”.
[BBC]
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