Court issues arrest warrant for Sheikh Hasina

Dhaka

A Bangladesh court on Sunday has issued arrest warrants for 51 people, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana, over alleged irregularities in plot allocations under the Purbachal New Town project. The court action comes after the Anti-Corruption Commission submitted charge sheets in three separate cases.

Others named include Sheikh Rehana’s children—Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, Azmina Siddiq, and UK MP Tulip Rizwana Siddiq. Judge Zakir Hossain Galib of the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Court issued the order on Sunday and asked for a progress report on arrests by April 27.

Earlier this week, the same court had issued warrants against 18 individuals, including Hasina and her daughter Saima Wazed Putul, in a similar plot-related corruption case. Sheikh Hasina now faces six total cases tied to the Purbachal project.

In a separate development, a Bangladesh tribunal also issued an arrest warrant for Hasina and four others, including former police chief Benazir Ahmed, over alleged mass killings during a 2013 protest at Shapla Chattar in Dhaka.

In January, another Dhaka tribunal had already ordered the arrest of Hasina and 11 others over cases involving enforced disappearances.

Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Bangladesh's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, fled to India on August 5. In a February video message to Awami League supporters, she accused the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus of turning Bangladesh into a center of "terrorism" and "lawlessness."