Awami League calls for lockdown as Special Bangladeshi tribunal readies to deliver verdict against Sheikh Hasina on November 17

Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) on Thursday (November 13, 2025) announced it will deliver the verdict against deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on November 17 in a case over crimes against humanity.

- BY S VENKAT NARAYAN, Our SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

“The three-judge tribunal set November 17 for delivering the verdict,” a journalist attending the tightly secured special court in the capital told PTI.

Ms Hasina, her Home Minister in the ousted Awami League government Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and then inspector general of police (IGP) or police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun were tried in the tribunal, where the ex-premier and Kamal were tried in absentia, with the court declaring them fugitives.

The then police chief faced the trial in person but emerged as an approver, admitting his own role and describing the role of the two co-accused in taming last year’s student-led street movement called July Uprising.

Mamun appeared on the dock as the ICT-BD chair Justice Mohammad Golam Mortuza Majumder fixed the date.

Classes and transportation in Bangladesh were seriously disrupted on Thursday (November 13, 2025) as ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her former ruling Awami League party called for a nationwide “lockdown” in protest against her trial over last year’s protests that left several hundreds dead.

Schools in Dhaka and major cities across Bangladesh switched to online classes and examinations while public transportation was severely disrupted on Thursday as the interim government heightened security across the country.