{"id":454,"date":"2025-10-29T10:28:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=454"},"modified":"2025-10-29T10:28:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T10:28:54","slug":"bangladeshs-fugitive-ex-leader-warns-of-mass-voter-boycott-in-2026-polls-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=454","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh\u2019s fugitive ex-leader warns of mass voter boycott in 2026 polls | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Sheikh Hasina puts up defiant front from exile in India, saying ban on her Awami League will disenfranchise millions.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 29 Oct 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">29 Oct 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Bangladesh\u2019s fugitive former leader Sheikh Hasina has warned that excluding her Awami League party from next year\u2019s elections would deepen divisions in the country as millions of her supporters are set to boycott the vote.<\/p>\n<p>Now exiled in India, the 78-year-old is currently being tried for crimes against humanity after being toppled in August 2024 by a student-led uprising that, according to the United Nations, saw up to 1,400 people killed in crackdowns as she clung to power.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The interim government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus has pledged to hold elections in February but has banned the Awami League under amendments to the antiterrorism act, citing national security threats and war crimes investigations into the party\u2019s senior leaders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ban on the Awami League is not only unjust, it is self-defeating,\u201d Hasina said in emailed comments to the Reuters news agency published on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMillions of people support the Awami League, so as things stand, they will not vote. You cannot disenfranchise millions of people if you want a political system that works.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Awami League and the rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have long dominated the politics of Bangladesh, which has more than 126 million registered voters. The elections in January 2024 were boycotted by the BNP as its top leaders were either jailed or in exile.<\/p>\n<p>Human Rights Watch has condemned the ban on the Awami League as \u201cdraconian\u201d. In the party\u2019s absence, the BNP is predicted to lead in next year\u2019s election while Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim-majority country\u2019s largest Islamist party, is rising in popularity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are not asking Awami League voters to support other parties,\u201d Hasina told Reuters of the upcoming elections. \u201cWe still hope common sense will prevail and we will be allowed to contest the election ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"the-nucleus-of-all-crimes\">\u2018The nucleus\u2019 of all crimes<\/h2>\n<p>The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh\u2019s domestic war crimes court, has concluded proceedings against Hasina, and a verdict is expected on November 13.<\/p>\n<p>Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam accused Hasina of being \u201cthe nucleus around whom all the crimes were committed\u201d during the uprising and called for the death penalty if she is found guilty.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors also alleged she oversaw disappearances and torture of opposition activists at clandestine detention centres run by security agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Hasina has defied court orders to return to attend the trial. She told Reuters the proceedings were \u201ca politically motivated charade\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve been brought by kangaroo courts with guilty verdicts a foregone conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an emailed interview with the AFP news agency also published on Wednesday, Hasina called charges that she had ordered security forces to fire on protesters as \u201cbogus\u201d and said she \u201cmourned all the lives lost during the terrible days\u201d of her crackdown.<\/p>\n<p>The prosecution, which insisted her trial was fair, has played audiotapes verified by police that suggested Hasina directly ordered her security forces to \u201cuse lethal weapons\u201d against protesters.<\/p>\n<p>This month, lawyers for the Awami League requested that the International Criminal Court in The Hague investigate reported \u201cretaliatory violence\u201d, including allegations of \u201cbeatings and lynchings\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sheikh Hasina puts up defiant front from exile in India, saying ban on her Awami League will disenfranchise millions. Published On 29 Oct 202529 Oct 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Bangladesh\u2019s fugitive former leader Sheikh Hasina has warned that excluding her Awami League party from next year\u2019s elections would deepen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}