Ms Hasina is accused of overseeing a system of enforced disappearances throughout her time in authorities, in addition to the mass killing of protesters in July and August final 12 months.
Ms Hasina, who was toppled by the protests and is at present in exile in India, is accused of overseeing a community of secret detention centres the place it is alleged her political opponents had been interrogated, tortured and a few killed – all beneath the banner of a “war on terror”.
Bangladesh has issued two arrest warrants for her. Professor Yunus mentioned they’d despatched “formal letters” however obtained “no official response” from New Delhi.
He insisted, nonetheless, that Ms Hasina would face the courtroom, whether or not bodily current in Bangladesh or in absentia, in India.
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Cordelia Lynch speaks with Muhammad Yunus. Pic: Tanbirul Miraj Ripon
Professor Yunus not too long ago visited one of many now notorious secret jails, code-named the ‘Home of Mirrors’. The economics professor, often called the ‘banker to the poor’ and now chief adviser of Bangladesh, mentioned he was past shocked at what he noticed.
“This is just the ugliest thing that you can see, you can feel, or you can observe,” he mentioned.
Ms Hasina is accused of utilizing her safety forces and police to supervise the kidnapping, torture and homicide of a whole bunch of activists.
She denies the allegations and says she’s being politically persecuted.
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Former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. Pic: AP
Ms Hasina, her shut aides and plenty of of these accused of overseeing a community of as many as 800 secret jails have fled Bangladesh.
Professor Yunus mentioned the quantity and vary of individuals concerned within the alleged crimes was “taking time” to work by.
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Protests throughout Bangladesh in August 2024. Pic: AP
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College students and different activists throughout a protest in September 2024 to mark one month since former PM Sheikh Hasina stepped down. Pic: AP
“Everybody was involved in it all,” he mentioned. “The whole government was involved in it. So you cannot distinguish who was really and enthusiastically doing it, who was doing it under orders and who was not quite supportive but carrying out those kinds of things.”
Ms Hasina, the army and police are additionally accused of a violent crackdown on protesters in July and August which the UN estimates killed as many as 1,400 individuals within the days earlier than the previous prime minister fled.
Professor Yunus tried to handle expectations round how rapidly the households of victims will see justice, and whether or not that can occur beneath his watch.
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Sky’s Cordelia Lynch has been given uncommon entry inside one in every of Bangladesh’s secret jails
Elections for a brand new authorities within the nation may occur as early as December.
“Some will get punished, some will still be under the process, some will still be untraceable,” he mentioned.
Investigations into alleged corruption
The chief adviser has had a big in-tray to take care of since taking up a rustic in turmoil, together with anti-corruption probes into these linked to Ms Hasina.
British Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, who’s Ms Hasina’s niece, is a type of being investigated by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Fee (ACC).
Professor Yunus mentioned the case in opposition to her was “serious”, that she had a considerable amount of “wealth left behind” within the nation and “everything” can be checked out.
Ms Siddiq resigned as anti-corruption minister in January after being named within the investigation in Bangladesh.
A spokesperson for the London MP mentioned she “totally denies the claims” and had “not been contacted on these matters”.
Managing refugee disaster
The inflow of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh is one other problem for Professor Yunus’s management.
There’s been a pointy rise within the variety of the primarily Muslim minority fleeing Myanmar into Bangladesh after escalating violence within the nation’s long-running civil conflict.
Professor Yunus mentioned they had been now in talks with insurgent teams in Myanmar about the potential of a “safe zone” to ultimately assist the Rohingya refugees to return to their homeland.
He additionally acknowledged huge issues in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, house to the biggest refugee camp on the planet, the place an estimated a million Rohingya refugees have fled to – and the place “violence, drugs and paramilitary activities” are rife.
The strain, Professor Yunus mentioned, “will not disappear”.
