Bangladesh outlaws ousted PM’s Awami League party

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Bangladesh outlaws ousted PM’s Awami League party

Bangladesh’s interim administration has announced a sweeping ban on all activities of the country’s oldest political party, the Awami League, following mass protests in Dhaka demanding the party be outlawed.

“All activities of the Awami League, including in cyberspace, have been banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act until the prosecution of the party and its leaders is completed by the International Crimes Tribunal,” Asif Nazrul, law affairs adviser to the interim government, told reporters on Saturday.

The decision was taken during an emergency meeting of the council of advisers, headed by interim Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, Nazrul added.

“This decision is intended to safeguard national security and sovereignty, protect the leaders and activists of the July Movement and ensure the safety of plaintiffs and witnesses involved in the tribunal,” he said.

The Awami League, which led Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has been a dominant force in the country’s politics for decades.

Sheikh Hasina, Mujib’s daughter and the party’s president since 1981, was ousted as prime minister last year after her administration was accused of violently suppressing a mass uprising.

She is in exile in India and faces multiple criminal charges.

The protesters, many of whom played leading roles in the uprising, have long called for the party to be banned and prosecuted as an entity accused of political violence.

Saturday’s meeting also approved amendments to the International Crimes Tribunal Act, enabling the tribunal to try and punish any political party, its affiliates or support groups.

Crowds in Dhaka welcomed the decision, saying it fulfilled a longstanding demand to hold the Awami League accountable for its alleged role in political violence, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during Hasina’s tenure.

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