Hasina tells BBC she never ordered fire on unarmed civilians, rejects all charges ahead of ICT verdict
The ousted prime minister said she hopes a ban on her party will be lifted before general elections due next year
Bangladesh's former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is charged with personally ordering security forces to fire at protesters in the weeks before she fled, denied all allegations "categorically".
"I'm not denying that the situation got out of control, nor that many lives were lost needlessly. But I never issued any order to fire on unarmed civilians," Hasina said in written answers to emailed questions from the BBC.
However, leaked audio of one of her phone calls verified by BBC Eye earlier this year suggested that she had authorised the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the trial.
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The ousted prime minister said she hopes a ban on her party will be lifted before general elections due next year.
"We hope that common sense will prevail and that this [election] ban will be lifted. We have tens of millions of supporters who must not be disenfranchised," Hasina said in the written answers.
Sheikh Hasina, currently in India, is facing trial before a special tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity. The tribunal is scheduled to deliver its verdict on Monday (17 November).
Hasina's answers to the BBC also covered other serious allegations of abuses committed during her 15-year rule, which will be heard in another case at the special tribunal. She denies charges of crimes against humanity in that case too.
After she was ousted from power, a number of secret jails (Aynaghor) were discovered holding prisoners who had been detained for years without any legal process.
Asked who was responsible for this, Hasina said she "did not have knowledge" of them.
She also denied her involvement in alleged extra-judicial killings and disappearances.
"This is denied in terms of my own involvement, but if there is evidence of abuse by officials, let us have it examined properly in an impartial, depoliticised process," she told the BBC.
Speaking about the trial, Hasina said she hadn't been able to defend herself or appoint her own lawyers.
She added her political opponents had gone after her in an attempt to "liquidate" her Awami League party as a political force ahead of the February 2026 election.
Hasina said her trial in absentia was a "farce" orchestrated by a "kangaroo court" controlled by political opponents.
The former prime minister has refused to return from India to attend the trial.
"Whether in government or opposition, the Awami League is part of the national conversation in Bangladesh, and that will not change," said the ousted prime minister.
UN human rights investigators have said up to 1,400 people were killed when Hasina and her government used "systematic, deadly violence against protesters" in the failed bid to hold onto power.
Over the past few months prosecutors have presented the tribunal with evidence they say proves her guilt.
Hasina was formally indicted along with two others in July this year. They are former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
Prosecutors have sought the death penalty for Kamal, who is in hiding. The former IGP pleaded guilty in July but has not been handed a sentence.
