Since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina\u2019s government on August 5, 2025, Bangladesh\u2019s judiciary has become the most visible battleground in the country\u2019s deepening political war. Critics of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, including former Awami League ministers and the exiled former prime minister herself, accuse the administration of systematically weaponising courts to persecute one political side while granting impunity to the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The removal of a High Court judge, politically motivated appointments to sensitive tribunals, mass withdrawal of cases against anti-Awami League activists, and the alleged release of convicted militants stand in stark contrast to the aggressive prosecution\u2014and in some cases extrajudicial persecution\u2014of Awami League leaders and supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Forced Removal of Justice Khurshid Alam Sarkar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the clearest examples of alleged executive overreach came with the abrupt removal of High Court Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to former State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat, speaking in a widely circulated podcast on Saturday, Justice Sarkar was stripped of his position simply because \u201cYunus and his administration don\u2019t like him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arafat claims the interim government unlawfully pressured President Mohammed Shahabuddin to invoke his constitutional authority and remove the judge\u2014an action that bypasses the Supreme Judicial Council, the only body constitutionally empowered to discipline or remove superior court judges for proven misconduct or incapacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Daily Star<\/a> and several other outlets confirmed the removal but offered no official explanation from the Law Ministry. Opposition voices insist the real reason was Justice Sarkar\u2019s refusal to toe the new political line in politically sensitive cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheikh Hasina: Despite propaganda, Awami League still the most popular party<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Caretaker Govt: Sajeeb Wazed brands verdict a \u2018rubber stamp\u2019 for Yunus regime<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Khurshid is one of the 12 High Court judges barred from judicial duties since October 16 last year. Earlier, two other HC judges\u2014Justice Khandaker Diliruzzaman and Justice Khizir Hayat\u2014were removed from office based on similar recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These actions followed protests on the SC premises on October 16, where demonstrators\u2014mostly students\u2014demanded the removal of “pro-Awami League fascist judges.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Packing Tribunal With Political Loyalists<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Even more explosive are the appointments to the revived International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD), the body now trying Sheikh Hasina and dozens of senior Awami League figures for alleged crimes against humanity during the July-August 2025 uprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barrister Shafiul Alam Mahmud, a former organising secretary of the BNP-affiliated Nationalist Lawyers\u2019 Forum and an active participant in anti-Awami League processions during the 2025 monsoon revolution, was elevated directly to the High Court bench and, within six days, transferred to the ICT-BD. Photographs circulating on social media show Shafiul in street protests wearing the trademark white shirt and sunglasses of BNP legal activists. Critics point out that he had zero prior judicial experience \u2013 a prerequisite normally considered essential for a High Court appointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheikh Hasina, in her virtual address to party leaders on Thursday night, described the tribunal as \u201ca complete farce\u201d and ridiculed its claim to be \u201cinternational\u201d when every judge and prosecutor is a local political appointee. She also highlighted that the government has repeatedly amended the 1973 International Crimes (Tribunals) Act through executive ordinances\u2014even mid-trial\u2014in clear violation of separation-of-powers principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Selective Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While the ICT-BD races to try Awami League leaders in absentia, thousands of cases filed against activists of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, and other components of the 2025 uprising have been quietly withdrawn. Human rights monitors and Awami League sources claim that over 45,000 cases\u2014many involving murder, arson, and attacks on police\u2014have been dropped since August, often on the verbal or written instruction of the Law Ministry or local administrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More alarmingly, several convicted militants and terrorists sentenced during the Awami League era have reportedly been released or had their cases \u201cre-examined.\u201d Although the government denies any systematic release of dangerous extremists, families of victims and prison sources have documented cases of individuals previously jailed under anti-terrorism laws walking free after the change of regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barrister Monirul Islam: Bangladesh\u2019s ICT-BT maintains no global standard<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 5 European rights bodies condemn Sheikh Hasina\u2019s verdict as politically motivated<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Interview: Sajeeb Wazed says Yunus gang can\u2019t kill Sheikh Hasina<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In contrast, Awami League leaders and even grassroots workers face what many describe as vengeance rather than justice. Hundreds remain in hiding or have fled the country; those arrested are routinely denied bail, charged under multiple overlapping cases, and\u2014according to their lawyers\u2014subjected to coercion to implicate senior party figures, including Sheikh Hasina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Only Awami League Can Restore Rule Of Law\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking from exile on Thursday, Sheikh Hasina launched her sharpest attack yet on the Yunus administration, declaring that \u201cunder Yunus, no election can ever be free or fair\u201d and accusing the Nobel laureate of personally ordering army shootings in her home district of Gopalganj. Dismissing reports that the ICT had already issued her a death sentence, Hasina defiantly stated: \u201cHe whom Allah keeps alive, who can kill?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She challenged the government to publish the alleged list of 1,400 deaths during the 2025 uprising and accused the authorities of fabricating evidence, citing the controversial case of student Abu Sayed, whose father reportedly testified that the fatal bullet entered from the back\u2014contradicting the widely circulated video claiming a chest shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interview: Sajeeb Wazed says Yunus gang can\u2019t kill Sheikh Hasina<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n