New Delhi: Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Thursday (December 5) ordered a ban on disseminating ‘hate speech’ delivered by toppled premier Sheikh Hasina on social media and in the mass media, the Daily Star reported.
The tribunal’s decision comes days after Hasina during an Awami League event reportedly accused Bangladeshi interim chief adviser Muhammad Yunus and student leaders in the country of committing genocide.
The Bangladeshi press has not mentioned these statements by Hasina – although an editorial in the Daily Star has condemned them – which have so far been reported in the Indian media. The X account of Hasina’s Awami League did not post them either.
Thursday also saw a meeting between Yunus and religious leaders, where he reportedly said he had heard minorities were being attacked but that issues were being compounded by discrepant media reports.
According to the Daily Star, the prosecution on Thursday petitioned the tribunal seeking a ban on Hasina’s hate speech or any speech she has made that could hamper investigations into cases involving her and intimidate witnesses or victims.
The two-member tribunal allowed the prosecution’s plea and passed its order, the official Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) news agency reported.
Referring to Hasina’s speeches being ‘leaked’ in the media, tribunal prosecutor Gazi M.H. Tamim said that if “speeches like these are published and broadcast, we won’t be able to bring witnesses to the tribunal at the time of trials”, as per the Daily Star.
“Sheikh Hasina has made speeches where she was heard saying she got the license to kill 227 people as the same number of cases were filed against her,” BSS also quoted Tamim as saying.
He added: “She was even heard giving threats to the victims and witnesses of the cases against her, through these speeches.”
Reports cited prosecutor Abdullah Al Noman as saying that the prosecution’s plea did not aim to restrict Hasina’s political statements but hate speech as under the Rabat Plan of Action, which suggests a threshold for restrictions on free expression regarding the incitement of hatred.
Days after Hasina was forced to flee Bangladesh following violent student-led protests against her regime that saw scores of deaths amid clashes with the police, the ICT began investigating allegations that she and her associates committed crimes against humanity and genocide.
Appearing virtually at an Awami League event on December 1, Hasina reportedly said it was Yunus who was responsible for committing genocide and not herself.
“Today, I am being accused of genocide. In reality, Yunus has been involved in genocide in a meticulously designed manner. The masterminds – the student coordinators and Yunus – are behind this genocide,” the Indian Express quoted her as having said.
She also said Bangladesh’s religious minorities were being “ruthlessly persecuted and attacked”. “Eleven churches have been destroyed, temples and Buddhist shrines have been broken. When the Hindus protested, the ISKCON leader was arrested.”
Indo-Bangladeshi ties have come under strain after Hasina’s ouster. While New Delhi has alleged systematic attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, the interim government has said that these allegations were being “exaggerated” in Indian circles.
During Thursday’s meeting with leaders from various religions, Yunus said according to the Daily Star that discrepancies in the media regarding the country’s minorities was “not right” and solicited advice on gathering accurate information on minorities’ issues.
“In a large country, anything can happen, but we want to know the truth. We need immediate information so that the situation can be resolved. If someone is guilty, they must be brought to justice; it is the government’s responsibility,” he was quoted as saying.
On Wednesday, Yunus said in an apparent reference to the Indian government that Bangladesh’s “freedom and independence” obtained after Hasina’s ouster was “not sitting well with some people” who were trying to “stall our progress”.
Earlier this week, people protesting the alleged mistreatment of minorities in Bangladesh and the arrest for sedition of Hindu monk and former ISKCON member Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari in Chattogram vandalised Bangladesh’s diplomatic mission in Agartala.
Dhaka issued a rebuke following the incident and had also bristled at India’s statement expressing “deep concern” at Chinmoy Krishna’s arrest.
Hasina during the Awami League event also accused Yunus of being an “opportunist” and using the microfinancing Grameen Bank – for his work in which he received the Nobel Peace Prize – for his personal gain, ThePrint reported.
“It was I who funded the Grameen Bank initiative, yet Yunus has misused it for his benefit … How did he amass so much wealth? After winning the Nobel Prize, he should have donated that money to the bank, but he didn’t,” ThePrint quoted Hasina as saying.
She added: “Instead, he has severely damaged the country’s economic and diplomatic relations.”
Yunus’s supporters in the past have also alleged that Hasina has targeted him over their poor relations.
