Bangladesh expects reply on Hasina extradition

Bangladesh on Wednesday said India gave “no reply” to its earlier request seeking the extradition of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, but Dhaka now expects a response from New Delhi as the “situation is different now” with the judicial process completed and the former premier convicted.

The interim Government led by Muhammad Yunus last week had sent an “official letter” to India seeking the extradition of 78-year-old Hasina after a special tribunal sentenced her to death on November 17 for committing “crimes against humanity”. Foreign Affairs Adviser M Touhid Hossain told reporters that the Government is awaiting India’s reply to its latest request to extradite Hasina.

“I do not expect that they (India) will answer within a week of Dhaka’s request, but we expect we will get an answer,” he said. Hossain said Bangladesh had earlier requested India to return Hasina but received “no reply”. However, he said, “the situation is different now” as the judicial process is complete and she has been convicted. Hossain said the formal extradition request was conveyed through the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi following the

verdict delivered by the International Crimes Tribunal-Bangladesh (ICT-BD). He said the request was made under the existing extradition treaty between the two countries. Bangladesh had earlier sent a note verbale in December last year seeking Hasina’s extradition, to which India acknowledged receipt without further comment. Hossain, a former diplomat, clarified that Bangladesh was not ruling out a reply from India, but it is simply not expecting it within seven days.

Along with Hasina, the ICT-BD had also sentenced the then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal after a trial held in absentia. Hasina is currently in India, while Kamal is also believed to be hiding in the country.

The third accused, former police official Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, who appeared as an approver, was sentenced to five years in prison.  On November 20, Law Adviser Asif Nazrul said the interim Government is also considering moving the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to bring back the “fugitive convicts”.