The Bangladesh Awami League has issued a scathing statement condemning the Jamaat-controlled International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) for issuing an arrest warrant against Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her former honorary adviser on Information and Communication Technology.
In a strongly worded press release late Wednesday, the Awami League described the warrant as โbaseless, absurd, and politically motivated,โ accusing the tribunal of being turned into a โkangaroo courtโ under the interim government led by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus.
The ICT-BD, which is probing alleged crimes against humanity committed during the student-led uprising that toppled the Awami League government in August 2024, has charged Sajeeb Wazedโwidely known as Joyโwith offenses including the country-wide internet shutdown and complicity in what the tribunal calls โgenocideโ between July and August last year.
The Awami League statement rejected the charges outright, pointing out that Joy was abroad during the entire period of the violence and has remained outside Bangladesh ever since. โHe has no realistic opportunity to appear before a court controlled by militants and terrorists,โ the party said, calling the warrant โa complete violation of human rights.โ
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The party further accused Professor Yunus of weaponising the 1973 tribunalโoriginally established to try collaborators of Pakistani forces during the 1971 Liberation Warโto settle political scores and โtake revenge for the defeat of 1971.โ It claimed the interim administration represents โillegal usurpers, killers, fascists, and anti-liberation forcesโ seeking to destroy the legacy of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the idea of an independent Bangladesh.
Describing Sajeeb Wazed as the โarchitect of Digital Bangladesh,โ the statement praised his unpaid advisory role in transforming the country into a technology-driven nation and called him โan iconic leader to the new generation.โ
The Awami League vowed to continue its struggle โtogether with the peopleโ against what it labelled a โcalculated conspiracyโ to render both Bangladesh and the party leaderless.
Earlier, Sheikh Hasina described the revived ICT-BD as politically motivated and procedurally illegal. โThe court he has set upโthe โInternationalโ Crimes Tribunalโwhere is the โinternationalโ part?โ she asked. โThey appoint a 72- or 73-year-old judge when High Court judges retire at 67. There are no rules.
โThis law was enacted in 1973 to try war criminals,โ she continued. โBut now, without parliament, they amend the law again and again through executive ordersโeven during the trial. That is not justice; that is a mockery.โ
She said that she was unaware of the exact charges.
โI am speaking to you today not knowing exactly what human rights violations I have already been sentenced to death for,โ she said. โMy question isโhow did I violate human rights? Whom did I kill? That is my question. How will they prove it?โ
โLet Yunus pronounce my death sentence as many times as he wants. He whom Allah keeps alive, who can kill? I am here for the people of Bangladesh, and I will remain here,โ she declared.
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