Bangladesh tribunal to decide on charges against Sheikh Hasina on July 10

Bangladeshs International Crimes Tribunal on Monday set July 10 to determine whether charges will be framed against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and two of her top aidesHasina former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah AlMamun are accused in the case over alleged crimes against humanity committed during the July uprising last yearThe International Crimes Tribunal1 ICT1 set July 10 to decide whether charges will be framed against Hasina Kamal and AlMamun The Daily Star newspaper reportedOn that day the threemember tribunal will hear the petitions filed by the defence counsels who argued that the charges against their clients are baseless and should be dropped it saidHasina Kamal and AlMamun were charged with five counts of crimes against humanity on June 1The prosecution pressed formal charges against the deposed prime minister the former home minister and the former top cop for murder attempted murder torture and use of lethal weapons among othersOn Wednesday last week Hasina was sentenced to six months in prison in absentia in a contempt of court case by the ICT It marks the first time that the 77yearold Awami League leader has been sentenced in any case since she left office in August last yearAccording to a UN rights office report up to 1400 people were killed between July 15 and August 15 last year as Hasinas government ordered a security crackdown on protestersMost leaders of the Awami League and ministers and several officials of the past regime were arrested or were on the run at home and abroad as the interim government initiated their trial for brutal actions to tame the uprising last year which led to the toppling of the nearly 16year Awami League regime on August 5 and forced Hasina to leave the country for IndiaMeanwhile a Dhaka court has summoned Hasina her family members and several former officials of her administration to appear in six cases over alleged corruption involving plot allocations news portal bdnews24com reported on SundayAntiCorruption Commission ACC Prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam said the court had earlier instructed the publication of the gazette notices which have now been issuedThe gazette was signed by Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Zakir Hossain GalibThe court has scheduled July 20 for a hearing in these six cases If the accused fail to appear before the court by then the trial will proceed in their absence Salam saidThe gazette underlines that arrest warrants have been issued against the accused that the court has reasonable grounds to believe that they have gone into hiding to evade arrest and trial and that there is no likelihood of their apprehensionIf the accused fail to appear by the next scheduled date the trial will proceed in their absenceBesides Hasina the gazette includes the names of her children Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Saima Wazed Putul her sister Sheikh Rehana and Rehanas children British MP Tulip Rizwana Siddiq Azmina Siddiq Ruponti and Radwan Mujib SiddiqThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever