Bangladesh’s army said it had taken into custody more than a dozen of its officers accused of serious crimes committed under Sheikh Hasina, whose 15-year rule ended last year amid widespread protests.
The move, announced by the military on Saturday, is a rare instance of large-scale detentions of military officers since Ms. Hasina’s ouster and flight.
The detentions came days after the country’s International Crimes Tribunal, an expedited civilian court set up to prosecute major crimes, issued arrest warrants for 32 people, including Ms. Hasina; her military secretary, Maj. Gen. Kabir Ahmed; and current and former security officers. The charges against them include abduction, torture and enforced disappearances, as well as unleashing brutal force against protesters that left more than 1,400 dead.
It is the latest of several arrest warrants issued against Ms. Hasina since she was forced out in August 2024, fleeing the country as angry crowds converged on her residence. But she is unlikely to face trial anytime soon. India, where she is now, has not responded to calls for her extradition.
Bangladesh, led by the interim leader Muhammad Yunus, has struggled with its transition from authoritarian rule, as divisive political jockeying heats up ahead of elections scheduled for February 2026. Members of Ms. Hasina’s political party have accused the interim government of political score-settling. The tribunal issuing the warrants, which despite its name is a domestic court, also has a troubled past, having been used by Ms. Hasina to target opponents.
Maj. Gen. Md Hakimuzzaman, a spokesman for the military, said at a news conference on Saturday that at least 14 serving officers and one who was starting retirement were in army custody as part of the “legal process.” Many of the others named in the arrest warrants have either fled the country or gone into hiding.
Those detained are expected to face hearings at the tribunal on Oct. 22, which will determine whether they are freed on bail or face police arrest.
Some analysts interpreted the army’s announcement that the officers were in its “custody” as a way of protecting its turf, or of evading the usual process of arrest by the police.
Comments by Mohammad Tajul Islam, the special court’s chief, added to the uncertainty about the detentions. He told reporters on Sunday that the legal process requires a person who is arrested to be produced before a court within 24 hours.
“Since no one has officially informed us through documentary procedure that the person has been detained, we are not taking into account what has appeared in the media,” he said.
General Hakimuzzaman said the officers with arrest warrants were not on army duty at the time of the crimes they were charged with, but had been dispatched to other forces, including the Rapid Action Battalion and the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, which served more directly under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“Despite this fact, they are now in our custody because they are members of the army,” General Hakimuzzaman said.
During Ms. Hasina’s increasingly authoritarian rule, the police and military were accused of killing, torturing and disappearing political opponents and other dissenters. The military intelligence, in which General Ahmed served, and many units of police and counterterrorism forces ran detention centers that became known as Aynaghar, or “the House of Mirrors.”
There, hundreds of people were shut out of sight in underground military detention centers, often for years on end. Pushed to the edge of insanity and death, some have spoken out since Ms. Hasina’s ouster to tell of the horrors they endured.
“Those who committed the crimes must face trial,” Mr. Islam, the chief of the special court, said on Thursday, when the warrants were issued. “They stood against the law, the Constitution and the uniform while holding the position of responsibility and drawing salaries from the taxpayers’ money.”
Mujib Mashal contributed reporting.
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