Sanjeeb Wazed, son of deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has accused the Muhammad Yunus led interim government of “weaponising the judiciary” for carrying out a “political witch hunt” against the Awami League leadership.

Wazed’s allegations, as a long post on X, came two days after the interim government on Monday said it has sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi seeking Hasina’s extradition from India. Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5 when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League’s (AL) 16-year regime.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for Hasina and several former Cabinet ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials for “crimes against humanity and genocide.”

“The judges and prosecutors appointed by the unelected Yunus led regime to conduct farcical trial process through International Crimes Tribunal makes it a political witch hunt that forsakes justice and marks another ongoing onslaught to persecute Awami League leadership,” Wazed said in his post on Tuesday. An IT entrepreneur, Wazed is based in the US and has been an ICT adviser in Hasina’s government. “The kangaroo tribunal and subsequent request for extradition comes while hundreds of leaders and activists are extrajudicially killed, framing of outrageous murder charges, illegal incarceration of thousands by law enforcement and violent attacks including looting vandalism and arson going on with impunity everyday fuelled by denial of the regime,” he added.

On Monday, India confirmed receiving the ‘note verbale’ or diplomatic communication from the Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi but refrained from commenting on it. Under the provisions of the India-Bangladesh extradition treaty, extradition may be refused if the offence is one of a “political character.”