Chief Prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Md Aminul Islam has said the government has no legal authority to issue a passport or travel document to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a death-row convict who is currently staying in India.
“If she wishes to return to Bangladesh, she must do so under the Extradition Treaty,” he told reporters on the ICT premises on Tuesday.
Responding to questions about discussions over issuing Hasina a passport or travel pass, Aminul cited Articles 6 and 7 of the Bangladesh Passport Order, 1973, which he said bar such a move.
Under Article 6, passport authorities cannot issue a passport to anyone convicted of an offence and sentenced to at least two years in prison within the five years preceding an application. Article 7 empowers the government to impound or revoke the passport of anyone convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude.
“Crimes against humanity fall squarely under the definition of moral turpitude,” the chief prosecutor said, adding that Hasina’s passport had already been revoked.
He also argued that constitutional protections relating to freedom of movement could not be invoked by an absconding convict who had evaded trial.
Hasina had ignored arrest warrants and notices published in newspapers and did not participate in the proceedings, Aminul said. He added that she had also failed to appeal against the tribunal’s verdict within the stipulated 30-day period.
Issuing her a passport or travel document, he said, would undermine the judicial process.
On Hasina’s stay in India, the chief prosecutor said the Indian government had stated that she was given shelter on humanitarian grounds. He added that his office had no information about any formal written request from Hasina to the Indian authorities seeking permission to return to Bangladesh.
Had she genuinely wanted to return, she could have faced the trial or surrendered within the 30-day appeal period, he said.
Aminul described recent discussions about her possible return as political posturing, reiterating that she could return only through the formal extradition process.
