The interim government of Bangladesh on Saturday announced that it would ban all activities of the Awami League, the political party of the country’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina, under the country’s antiterrorism act until several legal cases against the party and its leaders have concluded.
The government, led by the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, also amended a law to ensure that an entire party can be tried for certain crimes, not just individual members.
Last summer, Ms. Hasina’s authoritarian government was toppled by a student protest movement. She fled to India, but the Awami League maintained a presence in Bangladesh.
When Hasnat Abdullah, one of the leaders of last year’s uprising, was attacked last week, supporters of Ms. Hasina’s party were blamed. That prompted more student outrage and demands for tougher action against the Awami League.
“Our ultimate goal is to see that the Awami League is banned,” Mr. Hasnat said during a protest on Saturday. “Even if I make no further announcements, don’t leave the streets until the Awami League is banned.”
Hundreds of people, including students in wheelchairs or on crutches who had been injured during protests last year, joined the rally and demanded that the Awami League be banned. Other political parties, including the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolan, and members of Hefazat-e-Islam, a nonpolitical Islamic pressure group, also joined the demonstration.
On Saturday evening, the law minister, Asif Nazrul, said the government would ban “all activities” of the Awami League under Bangladesh’s Anti-Terrorism Act “until the trials of the party and its leaders at the International Crimes Tribunal are completed.”
The tribunal, despite its name, is a domestic court, and will eventually rule on accusations that Awami League members committed atrocities during the 2024 protests. The interim government says that the legal amendment was to ensure that a political party is not able to disown an individual member as a bad actor while continuing to back bad behavior.
An inquiry commission formed by the interim government said in December that Ms. Hasina orchestrated mass disappearances during her 15 years in power.
Separately, a United Nations fact-finding committee said in February that at least 1,400 people, including children, were killed by law enforcement and members of Ms. Hasina’s party during last year’s protests.
In a Facebook post, the Awami League alluded to the unelected nature of the interim government in a comment on the amendment: “Decisions of an illegitimate government are also illegitimate themselves.”
In 2024, student protests against a job reservation system grew into a huge uprising fueled by frustration and anger at Ms. Hasina’s rule. Tensions escalated after the death of a protester in mid-July, which led her administration to block the internet, impose curfews and order army, paramilitary and police forces to crack down on the protesters.
Ms. Hasina fled Bangladesh on Aug. 5, narrowly escaping the thousands of protesters marching toward her residence. Three days later, Mr. Yunus took an oath as the new head of the government.
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