A Bangladeshi court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for exiled former leader Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India in August after being toppled from power in a student-led revolution.

Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam called it a “remarkable day”, while a relative of one of the hundreds who died in the uprising against his autocratic rule said he was “looking forward” to the trial.

Hasina’s 15 years in office were marked by numerous human rights violations, including mass detention and extrajudicial executions of her political opponents.

“The court has… ordered the arrest of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her appearance in court on November 18,” Islam, chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICTY) told reporters. Bangladesh.

“Sheikh Hasina was at the head of those who committed massacres, murders and crimes against humanity between July and August,” Islam said.

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

Dozens of Hasina’s allies were arrested after the fall of her regime, accused of being guilty of a police crackdown that killed more than 700 people during the unrest that deposed her.

Former ministers and other senior officials from his Awami League party have been arrested, and his government appointees have been barred from the courts and the central bank.

Hasina, however, has not been seen in public since fleeing Bangladesh by helicopter.

– ‘Bring her back’ –

The 77-year-old’s last official location is a military airbase near the Indian capital, New Delhi.

Asked by reporters about the arrest warrant, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal declined to comment.

“She had arrived at short notice for security reasons and she is still in India,” he said.

Her presence in India – her government’s biggest benefactor – enraged the interim Bangladesh administration that replaced her.

Dhaka revoked her diplomatic passport and the two countries concluded a bilateral extradition treaty that would facilitate her return to face criminal trial.

A clause in the treaty, however, specifies that extradition could be refused if the offense is of a “political character”.

“The court gave one month,” Acting Foreign Minister Touhid Hossain told reporters.

“We will try to do everything to bring her back within this time frame.”

Hossain did not say whether Bangladesh would file a formal request for Hasina’s extradition to India.

– “A fair trial” –

Among those in court were family members of Sajib Sarkar, a doctor killed in July during protests against Hasina.

“We want the government to take the initiative to bring back the former prime minister as quickly as possible and hold her to account,” her sister, Sumaiya Sarkar, told AFP.

“We look forward to a fair trial.”

The ICT is a highly controversial war crimes tribunal established by Hasina’s government in 2010 to investigate atrocities committed during Pakistan’s 1971 War of Independence.

The United Nations and rights groups criticized her procedural shortcomings, and it became widely seen as a way for Hasina to eliminate her political opponents.

Several cases accusing Hasina of orchestrating the “mass murder” of protesters are being investigated by the court.

Hasina was replaced by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.

The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer heads an interim administration tasked with tackling what he calls the “extremely difficult” challenge of restoring democratic institutions.

Yunus said he inherited a “completely broken” system of public administration and justice that requires a complete overhaul to prevent a future return to autocracy.

By Sabiha Alam