In a move that has deepened fears of an institutional purge, the army- and Islamist-backed interim regime led by Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus announced that 15 Bangladesh Army officers were taken into custody under warrants issued by a controversial tribunal on so-called crimes against humanity.
The tribunal, formed under the Yunus administration, last week issued arrest warrants for 30 individuals, including exiled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her former defence adviser, Maj Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, and five former chiefs of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI). While state media described the action as a “historic step toward accountability,” critics inside and outside the military say it is a politically motivated witch-hunt designed to erase officers loyal to Bangladesh’s pro-independence tradition.
Government Acknowledges the Trial Is Selective
It has been confirmed from the Chief Adviser’s Office itself that this is a government-controlled trial — meaning the authorities will arrest and try whomever they wish, and spare whomever they choose from prosecution.
On Saturday, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said there was no plan to issue further arrest warrants against officers of the armed forces. The state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sanstha (BSS) reported the statement.
“We have learned from the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the ICT that there is currently no plan to issue arrest warrants against any additional officers of the armed forces,” the Press Secretary said.
Rejecting social-media claims that more than a hundred army officers were about to face warrants, he added, “This news is completely baseless and a fabricated rumour.”
“This is arbitrariness in the name of justice,” Awami League Joint General Secretary A.F.M. Bahauddin Nasim told The Voice. He questioned, “Who the court will issue an arrest warrant against or not — that is a matter for the court. How can it be a plan of the government or the prosecutor? That means everything is being done according to a plan, which cannot be called justice.”
He further remarked, “It is also questionable how the Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary can make such a statement.”
Army Headquarters Confirms Detentions — But Questions Linger
At a Saturday briefing, Adjutant General Maj Gen Md Hakimuzzaman confirmed that the 15 officers in custody had reported to Army Headquarters following directives issued on October 8.
Another officer, Maj Gen Kabir Ahmed — a former DGFI and Counter-Terrorism Bureau director — has been missing since October 9 after allegedly leaving home and not returning.
“The detained officers have been separated from their families,” Hakimuzzaman said, adding that they were being held “as part of the legal process.” No details were offered about their conditions of detention or access to counsel.
Sources inside the armed forces told The Voice News that most of the detained officers are known for their pro-liberation convictions and professional ties to Hasina’s civilian administration during her 15-year tenure.
A Tribunal Shrouded in Politics
The International Crimes Tribunal, which accepted the charges this week, operates directly under the interim regime’s supervision. The cases allege that senior officials under Hasina’s elected government were responsible for enforced disappearances and torture of political dissidents — charges that Awami League leaders and rights defenders have dismissed as baseless and politically engineered.
The two cases focus on incidents linked to the Task Force Interrogation (TFI) Cell and the Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC), both established during years of intense counter-terrorism operations. Officers who helped dismantle Islamist militant networks are now being branded as war criminals.
“These are the same men who risked their lives defending the republic against extremists,” a retired brigadier told this reporter. “Now they’re being punished for standing by the elected government.”
Who Escapes Justice?
Human-rights observers and former prosecutors point out that the interim regime has ignored hundreds of well-documented cases of extrajudicial killings and custodial deaths committed by military personnel during earlier army-backed administrations.
According to archived government data and rights-group records, during Operation Clean Heart (2002–03) under the BNP-Jamaat coalition, at least 46 civilians died in custody; parliament later passed an indemnity law shielding the army from prosecution, which was struck down in 2015 by the High Court.
Under the army-controlled caretaker regime (2007–08), more than 313 people were allegedly killed in “crossfire” or torture, but none ever faced trial.
Following the BDR mutiny (2009), at least 78 border guards died in custody during mass interrogations by military intelligence.
Yet the Yunus government has taken no initiative to reopen those files or prosecute the officers involved. Instead, it has targeted those associated with Hasina’s civilian command structure and counter-terrorism programs that dismantled radical Islamist networks.
A Purge Disguised as Justice
Legal experts describe the current prosecutions as an attempt to rewrite Bangladesh’s post-1971 military history.
Dr Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, a former law professor now in exile, said, “What we are witnessing is not justice — it is selective vengeance. The pro-liberation officers who built modern institutions are being criminalized, while the architects of past military atrocities remain untouched.”
A senior Awami League official, speaking from Kolkata where many exiled leaders are now based, called the tribunal “an instrument of fear.”
“They are branding our independence-era heroes as criminals so that the next generation forgets who defended the country’s secular ideals,” he said.
The Broader Political Context
Since the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s elected government on August 5, 2024, Bangladesh has been ruled by an interim administration dominated by the army and supported by Islamist groups.
Yunus — once a development icon — now presides over a regime accused of mass arrests, censorship, and systematic persecution of Awami League members.
Rights organizations report that more than 44,000 party activists have been detained and hundreds killed in custody since the takeover. The ban on the Awami League and its student wing has effectively silenced the country’s largest political force.
Within the military, officers seen as loyal to the Liberation War’s secular values are reportedly being sidelined or forced into early retirement, while Islamist-leaning and foreign-trained factions gain influence.
Hasina in Exile, Yet Central to Bangladesh’s Politics
From exile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina remains at the heart of Bangladesh’s political debate.
Her name atop the tribunal’s charge sheet is seen by supporters as a deliberate attempt to delegitimize the only leader elected by popular mandate for four consecutive terms.
“Sheikh Hasina is not on trial for crimes — she is on trial for her legacy,” said political analyst Farid Nizam, noting that the charges emerged just weeks after U.N. envoys criticized the interim regime for human-rights abuses.
Criminalizing the Liberation Ethos
The interim regime’s rhetoric of accountability contrasts sharply with its record of repression.
While the government promotes new laws such as the Enforced Disappearance Prevention and Redress Ordinance 2025, critics argue that it uses the same instrument to persecute opponents rather than protect victims.
“The law may criminalize secret detention, but it’s the interim government that continues to detain journalists, students, and officers in secret,” said a Dhaka-based rights activist who requested anonymity.
A Nation’s Credibility on Trial
Observers fear that the army’s involvement in politically driven prosecutions could inflict lasting damage on the institution’s credibility.
The selective detention of serving officers — without similar action against those implicated in past military crackdowns — has convinced many that this is less about justice and more about restructuring loyalty.
For a country built on the sacrifices of 1971’s freedom fighters, the spectacle of pro-liberation officers being branded as war criminals while Islamist collaborators enjoy protection marks a painful reversal of history.
As one retired general put it succinctly, “They are burying the spirit of our Liberation War under the pretext of justice.”
