Former president Abdul Hamid returns to Bangladesh from Thailand

Former president Abdul Hamid returned to Bangladesh today (9 June) after a month-long hospital visit in Bangkok.

He arrived at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka at around 1:30am on a Thai Airways flight (TG-339), confirmed HSIA Executive Director Group Captain SM Ragib Samad.

Airport sources said that after landing in the country, Hamid went to the immigration counter at 1:45am. He then left the airport at around 3am.

His initial departure on 8 May was met with widespread controversy and debate.

When the news of his exit became known, an additional deputy commissioner of the Immigration Police was withdrawn due to alleged negligence in their duties regarding their connection to the departure.

An officer of the Special Branch was also suspended on the same grounds.

The interim government formed a high-level committee, including three members of the Advisory Council, to investigate his defection.

Following his departure, the call to ban the Awami League grew louder.

Later on, leaders and activists of the National Citizen Party and other like-minded parties took to the streets, first staging a sit-in in front of the chief adviser's residence, and later gathering in Shahbag, demanding an immediate ban on AL.

Following the student protests, the interim government decided to ban AL on the night of 10 May. 

The government officially banned the Awami League and all its affiliate organisations under the Anti-Terrorism Act on 12 May. 

The ban will stay in effect till the trials of the leaders of AL and its affiliate organisations are complete, according to a gazette notification.

The ban covers all activities, including any kind of publication, campaign in the media, online and social media, procession, meeting, gathering, conference, etc.

Hamid has been accused in a case filed on 14 January this year in Kishoreganj for his alleged involvement in an attack on the anti-discrimination student movement protests during the July Uprising last year.

Also, 122 others, including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, and AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader, were accused in that case.

One Tohmul Islam Mazharul, 27, filed the case at the Kishoreganj Sadar Model Police Station, Officer-in-Charge Abdullah Al Mamun told the media.  

The case statement alleges that the defendants orchestrated a planned massacre by supplying weapons and funds to suppress the protests.  

The incident reportedly took place on 4 August last year at noon when the plaintiff and several others joined the protests. 

Tohmul, who is reportedly affiliated with BNP, said he delayed filing the case due to medical treatment for injuries sustained during the protests.

Abdul Hamid assumed office as the acting president of Bangladesh after the illness and death of the then president Zillur Rahman in March 2013.

Later, on 24 April 2013, he was elected unopposed as the 20th president of Bangladesh.

Hamid served as the president for two consecutive terms from 2013 to 2023 during the Awami League regime.

He assumed office as the 21st President for a second term on 7 February 2018. He completed his presidential term on 24 April 2023 and was succeeded by Mohammed Shahabuddin.