Hasina refuses to apologise for killings of protesters

Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has refused to apologise for the deadly crackdown on street protests that ultimately led to her downfall last year, as part of a rare and wide-reaching interview with The Independent.

Prosecutors in Bangladesh are seeking the death penalty for Hasina, accusing her of crimes against humanity by ordering the use of lethal force against student protesters, resulting in up to 1,400 deaths.

Hasina, who ruled with an iron fist for over 15 years, is now living in India as she fled Bangladesh on 5 August 2024, following a mass uprising.

Asked if she would apologise to the families of protesters killed last year, she said that she “mourns each and every child, sibling, cousin and friend we lost as a nation” and would “continue to offer my condolences”.

But she rejected the allegation that she ordered the police to shoot demonstrators, and said her party, the Awami League, is being unfairly denied the opportunity to contest new elections in Bangladesh by the interim government led by Prof Muhammad Yunus.

Speaking out in one of her first interviews since her ousting, Hasina told The Independent that she would “neither be surprised nor intimidated” if the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) sentenced her to death, calling the proceedings “a sham trial” driven by political vengeance.

“The ICT is a sham court presided over by an unelected government consisting of my political opponents. Many of those opponents will stop at nothing to get rid of me,” she said.

“Because of my family’s history, nobody can be more aware than I am of the history of political assassinations in our country, and this move by the ICT is part of that ugly tradition.”

Hasina defended her actions during the protests last year and denied any personal culpability for the killings during what she labelled a “violent insurrection”.

She blamed the high number of casualties on “breakdowns in discipline among security forces on the ground”, adding: “As a leader, I ultimately take leadership responsibility, but the claim that I ordered or wished for the security forces to open fire on the crowds is simply wrong.”

Hasina also claimed that her government had initiated an independent inquiry into the first killings, which she claimed was later shut down by the interim government that succeeded her.

Bangladesh’s crackdown on protesters last year shocked the world. Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, Babu Ram Pant, said at the time: “The rising death toll is a shocking indictment of the absolute intolerance shown by the Bangladeshi authorities to protest and dissent.”

The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, said at the time that “the attacks on student protesters are particularly shocking and unacceptable”.

Hasina contested the often-cited death toll during the student-led protests, saying that “the 1,400 figure is useful to the ICT for propaganda purposes but is probably inflated”.

The protests began last July with university students demanding the removal of quotas on government jobs for relatives of veterans from Bangladesh’s war of independence. It spiralled into an anti-government movement, with hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life taking to the streets.

Interview with AFP

Sheikh Hasina, in her interview with AFP, also echoed the same sentiment when asked about the crackdown on protesters.

In written responses to AFP, she said, "The charge that I personally directed security forces to open fire on crowds is bogus."

However, she admitted that "some mistakes were certainly made within the chain of command".

Hasina said, "But on the whole, the decisions made by senior government officials were proportionate in nature, made in good faith and intended to minimise the loss of life."

The prosecution, who insist the trial was fair, have played audio tapes verified by police that suggested Hasina directly ordered her security forces to "use lethal weapons" against protesters.

Hasina claimed the recordings had been "taken out of context".