Dhaka: Bangladesh’s Awami League party has accused the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of turning legal proceedings into a political weapon, filing multiple cases against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family to influence public perception.
The party alleged that these actions are part of a broader narrative to undermine Hasina’s legacy and delegitimise her family in the eyes of the nation.
“Every few days, a new headline emerges: another case filed, another sensational claim, another press briefing from the Anti-Corruption Commission. Sheikh Hasina, her children Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Saima Wazed Putul, and even extended family members like her sister Sheikh Rehana and her three children, are all now targets of what looks less like justice and more like a carefully choreographed campaign,” the Awami League stated.
Slamming the Muhammad Yunus led interim government, the party said that the Yunus regime and the ACC have turned Hasina’s legal ordeal into a full-blown public spectacle.
“This carefully orchestrated drama unfolds like a political thriller. Every move is broadcast, dissected, and sensationalized, from leaked ‘exclusive findings’ to official statements, ensuring that Hasina’s image is dragged through the court of public opinion long before any formal verdict is reached,” the party emphasised.
According to the Awami League, amid court proceedings and intense media coverage, the ACC has escalated its campaign with the so-called ‘Red Notice Game’, a strategy which the party described as less about justice and more about optics.
However, the party stressed that the legal mechanics of Interpol notices are clear: they are not arrest warrants; they require solid evidence of prosecutable offences. The Awami League stated that many jurisdictions, including India and the UK, are unlikely to act on politically motivated charges.
Asserting that the ACC’s push for red notice is symbolic theatre, the party said that it serves as a tool to intimidate, to harass, and to cast a shadow over Hasina’s family international freedom, rather than a legitimate step toward accountability.
“In this calculated display, the Red Notice becomes a weapon of narrative control, turning Hasina’s family into the faces of alleged corruption, while the real story, the lack of credible, independently verified evidence, is conveniently obscured. It is politics masquerading as law, a high-stakes game where perception is manipulated, and reputations are dragged through the mud long before the facts see the light of day,” the Awami League highlighted.
The party alleged that in Bangladesh, the legal proceedings against Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wazed, and her daughter Sayma Wazed Putul have turned into something more like a public spectacle than a fair trial.
Highlighting the allegations against Hasina’s family in the Purbachal plot case, the party stated that witnesses testify for over an hour, detailing accusations of influence and corruption, while the accused remain thousands of miles away, unable to speak, defend themselves, or cross-examine a single claim.
(IANS)
