ICT case: Charges against Hasina to be pressed today

The prosecution of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is set to press formal charges against ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina today in a case filed over crimes against humanity during the July mass uprising.

The ICT prosecutors confirmed the development yesterday.

On May 12, the Investigation Agency of the tribunal submitted its probe report against the deposed prime minister, bringing five allegations of crimes against humanity during the July uprising.

Former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun were named co-accused in the report.

Hasina is already facing two other cases filed with the ICT -- one over alleged involvement in enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the Awami League rule, and the other over killings during the 2013 Hefazat-e-Islam rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel.

Citing the probe report, ICT Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam on May 12 said Hasina is directly responsible for ordering all state forces, her party, and its associated bodies to carry out actions that led to mass killings, injuries, targeted violence against women and children, the incineration of bodies, and denial of medical treatment to the wounded.

He said, according to the report, more than 1,500 individuals were killed, over 25,000 wounded, and countless others subjected to torture and other inhumane treatment.