A complaint was on Wednesday filed with the International Crimes Tribunal seeking a 10-year ban on the Awami League-led alliance, accusing them of committing genocide and crimes against humanity during the student-led mass uprising.
The complaint alleged that the law enforcement agencies that acted on orders from the alliance were instructed to 鈥榮hoot on sight鈥�.
The orders from the alliance led to the deaths of 1,581 people, most of them students during the student-mass uprising.
The first-ever complaint against AL along with its allies for committing crimes against humanity during the student-led revolution was filed by Bobby Hajjaj, the chairman of the Nationalist Democratic Movement.
The student-led movement intensified between July 16 and August 5.
With the latest complaint, the number of genocide and crimes against humanity cases brought before the ICT has risen to 35. Among them, 16 relate to atrocities committed during Bangladesh鈥檚 1971 War of Independence, which remain pending before the tribunal.
According to the health affairs sub-committee of the Student Movement Against Discrimination, the death toll rose as violence escalated, culminating in the resignation of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina as prime minister and fleeing to India on August 5.
Hajjaj called on the ICT to investigate the Awami League, the Workers鈥� Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-Jasod, and AL鈥檚 other allies for their role in the alleged atrocities.
He requested the tribunal to hold the alliance leaders accountable for their decision to impose a curfew on July 19, during which security forces were allegedly given orders to shoot on sight.
鈥楾his was a premeditated massacre,鈥� said Hajjaj.
鈥楤y giving such an order, the Awami League and its allies committed genocide and crimes against humanity.鈥�
The complaint specifically named key alliance partners, including Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League, the Jatiya Party-JP led by Anwar Hossain Manju, Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal led by Dilip Barua, Workers鈥� Party of Bangladesh led by Rashed Khan Menon, and the Bangladesh Tarikat Federation, among others. The coalition is accused of orchestrating widespread violence and violations of international humanitarian law.
ICT prosecutor BM Sultan Mahmud confirmed that the complaint sought to impose ban on the Awami League and its alliance for 10 years if found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.
This development comes shortly after the interim government proposed an amendment to the ICT Act on September 23.
The amendment would expand the scope of liability for crimes to include leaders of organisations or groups who order, permit, or participate in the commission of atrocities, with actual or constructive knowledge of the crimes. If passed, this amendment would empower the tribunal to ban political organisations for up to 10 years if found guilty of committing, aiding, or abetting crimes against humanity.
Besides this, another complaint was filed with the tribunal against Hasina and her 24 associates on charge of genocides and crimes against humanity over the killing of class X student Anas in the capital鈥檚 Chankharpul on August 5.
Anas鈥� father Mohammad Palash filed the complaint with the office of the ICT chief prosecutor Md Tajul Islam.
鈥楢nas joined the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement in Chankharpul on August 5. He left a letter for his parents, seeking their forgiveness and urging them to be proud of him if he failed to return from protest.
鈥楢nas was shot to death. We have received video footage of members of Armed Police Battalion shooting indiscriminately in the alleys on that day,鈥� the chief prosecutor Tajul Islam said.
