Ousted Hasina refuses to apologise for protest dead

Former Bangladeshi 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.

- MAROOSHA MUZAFFAR

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

Ms Hasina, who ruled with an iron fist for over 15 years, is now living in exile in India. Asked if she would apologise to the families of protesters killed last year, she said she “mourns each and every child, sibling, cousin and friend we lost as a nation” and would “continue to offer my condolences”.

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

Speaking out in one of her first interviews since her ousting, Ms Hasina told The Independent that she would “neither be surprised nor intimidated” if Bangladesh’s 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.”

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