The interim government has renewed efforts to bring back the deposed prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, believed to be in India, after the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced them to death for crimes against humanity.
India has not responded to Dhaka鈥檚 extradition request in the past 11 months, and Interpol has also not acted on Bangladesh Police鈥檚 request to issue red notices alerting India to their presence.聽
鈥榃e will send a letter to India, possibly tonight, requesting the extradition of Sheikh Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan,鈥� foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain told reporters at his Segun Bagicha office in the capital on Tuesday.
He said that they would mention the ICT judgement in a note verbale.
Inspector general of police Baharul Alam said on the day that the Bangladesh Police would again request Interpol to issue red notices for Hasina and Asaduzzaman as Interpol did not act on the earlier request made one year ago.
鈥榃e applied when Hasina was an under-trial accused,鈥� he said. 鈥榃e will now apply again with updated information showing her as a convicted fugitive.鈥�
He said that the police were waiting for a copy of the verdict before sending the fresh application.
Interpol鈥檚 role is to issue the red notice and forward it to the country concerned where the accused is staying, he explained.
鈥楪iving back the fugitives depends entirely on that country,鈥� the IGP said, adding that some countries, including the United States, do not extradite the convict who receives a death聽sentence.
On Monday, Touhid said that since Hasina and Asaduzzaman were staying there, they would send a letter to India for the extradition of both of them in a different context by Tuesday morning as they were now convicted by the tribunal.
He, however, said that India was yet to respond to Dhaka鈥檚 formal request for extraditing Hasina, who fled to India for shelter on August 5, 2024 amid a student-led mass uprising, in the past 11 months.
On December 23, 2024, the foreign ministry sent a note verbale to its Indian counterpart, requesting the extradition of Hasina on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the July-August mass uprising, including scores of murders.
Hasina, also the Awami League president, has been staying in India since her ouster from power on August 5, 2024.
Her ouster from power led to the formation of the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus on August 8, 2024.
On Monday, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Hasina and Asaduzzaman to death for superior command responsibility to the 2024 mass-uprising atrocities, while former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, who became a state witness, was jailed for five years on the same charges.
Prosecutor Gazi Monowar Hossain Tamim, earlier in the day, told reporters that the prosecution was preparing a fresh application for Interpol to issue red notices against the two absconding convicts.
He said that the prosecution had earlier applied for red notices using the arrest warrants issued by the tribunal on October 17, 2024.
鈥楾he request will be sent to the foreign ministry as soon as we receive the certified copy of the verdict and the conviction warrant,鈥� he told reporters at the tribunal premises.
Under the legal procedure, the certified verdict will first be forwarded officially to the Dhaka district magistrate for execution of the verdict order.
He said that only former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun鈥攚ho turned a state witness 鈥攊s entitled to receive a certified copy now.
He said that Hasina and Asaduzzaman may obtain it free of cost only if they surrender within 30 days.
Tamim said that, under the ICT law, the two convicts would lose their legal right to appeal to the Appellate Division once the 30-day time limit expires.
He, however, said that they might still file a petition under Section 561(A) of the Penal Code, explaining the delay and seeking permission to appeal against the verdict even after the expiry of the 30-day timeframe.
This is also the first time the tribunal has ordered compensation to the families of the deceased of the mass uprising and the wounded in the first crimes聽against聽humanity case verdict under the ICT reconstituted in October 2024, the prosecutor said.
The tribunal also ordered the confiscation of all properties belonging to Hasina and Asaduzzaman.
According to her affidavit submitted to the Election Commission during the 12th general election in January 2024, Sheikh Hasina declared movable and immovable assets worth Tk 4.34 crore.
She listed Tk 28,000 in cash, Tk 2.39 crore in bank deposits, savings certificates worth Tk 25 lakh, and a fixed deposit of Tk 55 lakh. She owned three cars, including one gifted, with the remaining two valued at Tk 47 lakh, gold and ornaments worth Tk 13.25 lakh, and furniture worth Tk 7.40 lakh.
Her agricultural land totaled 15.3 bigha, with a sale value of Tk 6.78 lakh, located in Tungipara and Sadar upazilas in Gopalganj, Gazipur, and Rangpur. She also owned a garden house near the Bangladesh Scout Training Centre on Dhaka-Tangail Road and a RAJUK plot worth Tk 34.76 lakh.
According to Asaduzzaman Khan鈥檚 affidavit, he held Tk 84 lakh in cash, Tk 82 lakh in bank deposits, bonds and shares worth Tk 24 lakh, and savings certificates of Tk 2.1 lakh. He owned two cars valued at Tk 1.61 crore and gold of 10聽bhari. His total declared assets, excluding gold, amounted to Tk 10 crore.
