A Dhaka metropolitan magistrate court on Friday issued a public notice declaring deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 260 other individuals fugitives in a sedition case filed earlier this year.
In the notice, published in two national dailies on the day, Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Magistrate Ariful Islam directed the accused to appear before it by November 11.
Hasina, who fled Bangladesh to India amid the student-led July Uprising on August 5, 2024, was earlier declared fugitive by the International Crimes Tribunal in other cases.
The Friday notice listed the names and addresses of all the accused, who have allegedly been absconding since the case was filed by the Criminal Investigation Department of police.
The CID lodged the sedition case on March 27, 2025, accusing 286 people of plotting to overthrow the current interim government and engage in anti-state activities.
The complaint claimed that the accused conspired during a virtual meeting under the banner of the 鈥楯oy Bangla Brigade鈥� to trigger a civil war in an attempt to reinstall Sheikh Hasina into power.
Among the prominent accused are Rabbi Alam, Kabirul Islam Akash, Advocate Kamrul Islam, Elahi Newaz Masum, Zakir Hossain Ziku, Pervej Khan Emon, Sohana Pervin Runa, Md Mahmudul Azad Ripon, and Hafizur Rahman Iqbal.
CID assistant superintendent of police Md Enamul Haque of the Cyber Investigation and Operations Unit submitted the charge sheet in August, which was accepted by the court.
The court then issued arrest warrants for all the 286 accused and later approved a police plea to show 25 of them as arrested. The police subsequently sought summons for the remaining 261 fugitives.
According to the case statement, intelligence reports indicated that during the December 19, 2024 online meeting, the participants discussed 鈥榟anding over power to Hasina through a civil war.鈥�
The Professor Muhammad Yunus-led interim government assumed office on August 8, 2024, three days after Sheikh Hasina was ousted amid a mass uprising.
Later, political activities by the Awami League and its affiliated bodies were banned by a government order issued on May 10, 2025.
Meanwhile, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 last week concluded the trial of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and others in a crimes against humanity case filed over their superior command responsibility for atrocities committed across the country during the July 2024 uprising.
Sheikh Hasina and her home minister Asaduzzaman Khan are still in hiding and faced the trial in absentia.
The three-member tribunal, chaired by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, said that the tribunal would fix a date on November 13 to pronounce its verdict in the case.
The tribunal wrapped up the proceedings in the case after hearing closing arguments from attorney general Md Asaduzzaman and chief prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam.
Both the attorney general and the chief prosecutor sought death sentences for Sheikh Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan.
They argued that exemplary punishment was necessary to prevent any future government from committing similar atrocities against the people using the state apparatus.
