Bangladesh’s interim government bans deposed PM Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League

Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina (Courtesy: Reuters file photo)

Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus on Saturday evening banned deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League under an anti-terrorism law.

“The official gazette notification will be issued in this regard on the next working day,” Yunus’s office said, describing it as a “statement of the council of advisers” or the Cabinet.

The statement said the council decided that the ban would remain effective until the completion of the “trial of the Awami League and its leaders in Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal in the interest of protecting the country’s security and sovereignty”.

It said the decision was also taken for the security of the leaders and activists of the July 2024 uprising that eventually led to the ousting of the Awami League regime alongside the complainants and witnesses of the trial in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).

The meeting chaired by Yunus simultaneously amended the ICT law allowing the tribunal to try any political party, its front organisations and affiliated bodies.

Formed in 1949, the Awami League led the movement for the autonomy of Bengalis in the then East Pakistan for decades and eventually led the Liberation War in 1971.