Bangladesh on Edge as Banned Awami League Protests Upcoming Hasina Verdict
Streets empty, schools shut as ex-PM's party defies ban over death penalty trial.
Bangladesh plunged into chaos on November 13 as the banned Awami League, acting on calls from exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, enforced a nationwide "lockdown" to protest her upcoming crimes against humanity trial. Schools across Dhaka and major cities shifted to online classes, public transportation ground to a halt, and usually gridlocked streets stood eerily empty amid heightened security deployments and scattered incidents of vandalism.
Hasina, in exile in India since her ouster in August 2024, faces charges for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on last year's student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule and claimed hundreds of lives. A special tribunal in Dhaka confirmed the verdict will be delivered on November 17, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty and branding her the "mastermind" behind the violence that killed up to 1,400 people according to UN estimates.
Sporadic violence escalated in the lead-up, including crude bomb explosions, arson attacks on vehicles and a Grameen Bank office founded by interim leader Muhammad Yunus, and a firebomb at a government building in Hasina's ancestral district. Security forces guarded the tribunal heavily as former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, now a state witness, testified against Hasina and her ex-home minister, both tried in absentia.
Also Read: Bangladesh On Edge As Tribunal Prepares To Announce Verdict Date In Sheikh Hasina Crimes Case
In a televised address, Nobel laureate Yunus announced that parliamentary elections and a referendum on the "July National Charter" for constitutional reforms—including a two-tier parliament—will be held simultaneously in the first half of February 2026. He vowed to punish Hasina while urging calm, as the banned Awami League campaigns against polls that exclude them.
Tensions between Dhaka and New Delhi rose after Bangladesh summoned India's deputy high commissioner over Hasina's media interviews accusing Yunus of backing Islam Islamists. With more protests threatened through November 17, Bangladesh braces for further unrest in a nation still scarred by last year's bloodshed and deep political divisions.
Also Read: Zakir Naik Denied Entry to Bangladesh Citing Security Concerns Before Polls
