“I demand justice from the people of this nation”

Exiled Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has demanded an investigation into the killings of hundreds of students during street protests that led to the fall of her government earlier this month.

In a statement posted on X by her son Sajeeb Wazed, Ms Hasina demanded a “thorough investigation to identify and bring to justice those responsible for these heinous killings and acts of sabotage”.

She is charged with murder by the interim government over the fatal shooting of a man by police during protests.

“Students, teachers, policemen — including pregnant women — journalists, cultural activists, workers, leaders, activists of Awami League and its affiliates, pedestrians and others working in various establishments fell victim to terrorist aggression and lost their lives. I express my deep sorrow and pray for the repose of their souls,” Ms. Hasina said in a statement, speaking for the first time since she fled to India on August 5.

“I demand justice from the people of this nation.”

Ms. Hasina recalled the August 15, 1975 coup d’état in which her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh, and 15 other family members were assassinated.

She appealed to the public to observe August 15 as a National Day of Mourning, even though the caretaker government has cancelled the public holiday.

Nearly 500 people died in violent protests that began in late June as a demand to roll back a controversial job quota but soon escalated into an agitation against Ms. Hasina’s government, ending with the ouster of Ms. Hasina and then the country’s top judge.

The fall of Ms Hasina’s government has led to a breakdown of law and order in the country. The police and security forces that took over the streets during the protests have ceased to exist.

After Ms Hasina fled by helicopter, protesters stormed her home in Dhaka, vandalised it and set fire to a museum dedicated to her father.

“The Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, under whose leadership we gained dignity as an independent nation, was subjected to extreme humiliation,” she lamented in a statement. “They insulted the blood of millions of martyrs.”

“Today it was destroyed,” she added, referring to Bangladesh.

Ms Hasina broke her silence after police under the new caretaker government launched a murder investigation against her for the killing of a trader called Abu Sayeed, who was shot dead on July 19. The case was brought by Amir Hamza, a businessman who said Sayeed’s family had no recourse to justice.

“I am the first ordinary citizen who has shown courage to take legal action against Sheikh Hasina for her crimes. I will make sure that this case comes to an end,” Mr Hamza told Reuters.

Mr Hamza had asked a Dhaka court to open an investigation into Sayeed’s killing and named Ms Hasina as a suspect, along with former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader and top police officers.

The court, in turn, asked the Mohammadpur Police Station to initiate an investigation and submit a report to it.

Ms Hasina has ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist for 15 years and has faced accusations of violating basic rights, suppressing opposition and free speech, and overseeing corruption.