Bangladesh's deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina charged with 2013 mass murder

A petition was filed in a Bangladesh court on Sunday seeking to frame deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 33 others on charges of mass murder by indiscriminately firing at a rally organised by Hefazat-e-Islam in 2013. Babul Sardar Chakhari, chairman of the Bangladesh People's Party (BPP), addressed the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Zaki-Al-Farabi, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

The chargesheet accused them of “mass murder” during the rally at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel on May 5, 2013.

The court recorded the plaintiff's statement and stated that it would make a decision at that time.

This means that 11 cases have now been brought in Bangladesh against 76-year-old Hasina, who resigned as prime minister on August 5 following a mass uprising and fled to India, including eight for murder, one for kidnapping and two for crimes against humanity and genocide.

More than 230 people have died in Bangladesh in violence that erupted across the country following the overthrow of Hasina's government, bringing the death toll to over 600 since mass student protests against a controversial quota system for public jobs began in mid-July.

Bangladesh's International Criminal Court on Wednesday opened an investigation into the former prime minister and nine others on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. The defendants are alleged to have committed crimes during mass student protests against their government between July 15 and August 5. After the fall of the Hasina-led regime, a caretaker government was formed and 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was appointed its chief adviser.