Leaked audio recordings reviewed by the U.Ok. state broadcaster BBC recommend fugitive former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ordered a lethal crackdown on protests final yr, allegations now on the heart of her ongoing trial.
Up to 1,400 individuals have been killed between July and August 2024, in accordance with the U.N., when Hasina’s authorities ordered a crackdown on protesters in a failed bid to cling to energy.
Hasina, 77, fled to India on the fruits of the student-led rebellion and has defied orders to return to Dhaka, the place her trial in absentia for fees amounting to crimes in opposition to humanity opened on June 1.
The BBC Eye Investigations workforce analyzed audio alleged to be of Hasina – and which types a key plank of the proof for the prosecution – which was leaked on-line.
In the recording, dated July 18, 2024, a voice alleged to be Hasina is heard authorising safety forces to “use lethal weapons” in opposition to protesters and that “wherever they find (them), they will shoot.”
The BBC stated audio forensics consultants had discovered no proof that the speech had been edited or manipulated, and that it was “highly unlikely to have been synthetically generated.”
Bangladesh police have additionally matched the audio with verified recordings of Hasina.
‘Denies the fees’
Protests started on July 1, 2024, with college college students calling for reforms to a quota system for public sector jobs.
Student ambitions to topple Hasina’s iron-fisted rule appeared a fantasy, simply months after she received her fourth consecutive election in a vote with out real opposition.
But protests gathered tempo and a fuse was lit when police launched a lethal crackdown on July 16.
Hasina’s state-appointed lawyer, who says they haven’t been in touch together with her, has sought to throw out the fees.
Her now-banned Awami League celebration stated it “categorically denies the charges that its senior leaders, and the prime minister personally, directed the use of lethal force against crowds during the protests of last summer.”
It as an alternative stated that “breakdowns in discipline among some members of the security forces on the ground in response to instances of violence led to (a) regrettable loss of life.”
Hasina was already convicted of contempt of court docket in a separate case on July 2, receiving a six-month sentence. She stays in India.
Source: www.dailysabah.com