On Monday the verdict against the former leader, accused of crimes against humanity, will be announced.
Posted on November 14, 2025
Bangladesh has been hit by a wave of violence ahead of a court verdict against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and her party has called for a nationwide “lockdown” to protest the case.
Schools in the capital Dhaka and other major cities began operating on Thursday amid serious transport disruptions, following a sharp rise in attacks.
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As tensions rose, the country’s authorities recorded 32 crude bomb explosions on Wednesday and dozens of buses burned across the country.
No casualties were reported when two more crude bombs exploded near Dhaka airport on Thursday night.
The interim government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus has increased security measures and deployed 400 paramilitary Border Guard soldiers throughout the capital.
Meanwhile, checkpoints have been reinforced and public gatherings have been heavily restricted.
Recent violence included the throwing of a firebomb at a government office in Gopalganj district, which is Hasina’s ancestral home. Local media also reported that an office of the Grameen Bank, founded by Yunus, was set on fire in eastern Bangladesh on Wednesday.
Police have arrested dozens of supporters of Hasina’s Awami League party for their alleged involvement in blasts and sabotage.
Hasina, who fled to India last August during deadly anti-government protests, is being tried in absentia for crimes against humanity. She denies any wrongdoing and claims the trial is politically motivated.
The 78-year-old is accused of being the “mastermind and chief architect” behind Bangladesh security forces’ violent crackdown on protests last year, which were motivated by a controversial government labor quota system.
According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 people may have died in the violence.
The daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father, former president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina first came to power in 1996, six years after leading a pro-democracy uprising that toppled military ruler Hossain Muhammad Ershad.
After becoming prime minister again in 2009, Hasina ruled for 15 years until last August. Human rights groups say his second term as prime minister was autocratic and point to abuses such as arrests, disappearances and extrajudicial executions.
Yunus, the interim prime minister, said he inherited from her a “completely” broken political system.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, 85, announced Thursday that the nation of 170 million people would hold a referendum on a national charter signed last month. It will take place on the same day as the parliamentary elections in February, he said.
His interim government has promised to end state violence, but a new report by Bangladeshi human rights group Odhikar suggests that impunity remains rife, allowing such abuses to flourish.
