Arrest warrant against exiled ex-Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina

A Bangladeshi court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was removed from power in August after a nationwide student protest in Bangladesh, news agency sources reported.

The former PM fled to India and has not been publicly seen since fleeing Bangladesh. Her last official whereabouts were at a military airbase near India's capital New Delhi.

According to the news agency, an arrest warrant was issued against Hasina for charges of crimes against humanity.

During Hasina's 15-year rule, there were reports of widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.

Prosecutor B.M. Sultan Mahmud said the Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the country's interim leader, issued the arrest warrants in response to two petitions submitted by the prosecution.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for Obaidul Quader, the fugitive former general secretary of Hasina's Awami League party, as well as 44 others, who were not named.