A special tribunal in Bangladesh requested Tuesday that Interpol issue a red notice for the arrest of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India in August following mass protests that ended her 15-year rule.
Prosecutor B.M. Sultan Mahmud told The Associated Press that the tribunal has contacted the France-based international police organization through Bangladesh’s police chief, seeking assistance in apprehending Hasina and her associates in connection with protester deaths during the uprising.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, who assumed leadership of the South Asian nation as interim leader on August 8, has reconstituted the tribunal, previously used for prosecuting crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.
The new government has pledged to prosecute Hasina and announced plans to seek her extradition from India, where she escaped on August 5 with close aides and former ministers.
