Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus on Saturday banned the Awami League, the party of deposed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, under the country’s anti-terrorism law, citing national security and an ongoing war crimes trial against its leadership.
As per news agency PTI, the decision follows days of mass protests and blockades in Dhaka by activists of the newly-formed National Citizen Party (NCP), a student-led outfit that emerged from last year’s uprising which toppled Hasina’s 16-year rule.
“The official gazette notification will be issued in this regard on the next working day,” Yunus’s office said, describing the move as a “statement of the Council of Advisers,” the interim cabinet, PTI reported. The statement said the ban would remain effective until the completion of the Awami League’s trial in Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).
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The tribunal is now empowered to try not only individuals but also political parties and affiliated organisations, after the interim cabinet amended the ICT law on Saturday.
The government said the decision was taken to protect the security of both the complainants and witnesses in the tribunal as well as supporters of the July 2024 uprising that ousted Hasina. The uprising forced the 77-year-old leader to flee to India on August 5 last year. Yunus, a Nobel laureate, took over three days later as chief adviser of the caretaker administration.
Since then, Hasina and dozens of top Awami League leaders have been facing hundreds of cases related to mass murder, corruption, and abuse of power. Many party figures are currently jailed or in hiding abroad.
Formed in 1949, the Awami League led Bangladesh’s Liberation War in 1971 and has been one of the country’s dominant political forces since independence. Its abrupt ban marks a historic turning point in the nation’s politics.
The NCP, formed earlier this year by student activists of the group Students Against Discrimination (SAD), has taken a hardline stance against the Awami League. Tensions escalated on Saturday as NCP supporters, joined by several Islamist and right-wing groups, marched towards Yunus’s official residence demanding the ban, while staging a sit-in in Dhaka’s Shahbagh area.
Despite growing pressure, the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has publicly opposed the move. “We do not support the banning of any political party,” PTI quoted BNP spokesperson said in response to the announcement.
Yunus’s office said on Friday that the government had consulted with various political stakeholders before making the decision.
