“Shoot me, bury me here, in Ganabhaban”. These were the words of deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the fateful morning of August 5, 2024, as army officers asked her to resign amid violent student protests. Hasina eventually fled to India hours before protesters entered Ganabhaban and vandalised the Prime Minister’s residence.

This was disclosed during a hearing at the International Crimes Tribunal by chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, according to a report in Prothom Alo. The chief prosecutor also submitted a formal charge concerning crimes against humanity in Dhaka’s Chankharpul during the student protests.

According to the prosecutor, it was then Parliament speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury who first asked Hasina to step down. However, several top leaders of the ruling Awami League rejected the idea.

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