International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has sent a petition to the Interpol for issuing a Red Notice against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide during the July-August mass uprising.
Chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Tajul Islam at a briefing on Sunday said that the application has been sent to the Interpol after filling necessary format for issuing worldwide Red Alert for the arrest of deposed Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, an accused in cases over genocide and killings.
"We have submitted the petition to issue the alert. The home ministry can provide further information in this regard," the chief prosecutor said.
However, the Police Headquarters said they do not yet have information about the issuance of a Red Notice against Hasina, who fled to India on August 5 in the face of a mass uprising led by students.
Talking to reporters, Additional Inspector General Enamul Haque of the Police Headquarters media wing said they were not informed about this issue.
"We wrote a letter to Interpol for the issuance of a Red Notice for the arrest of Sheikh Hasina a few days ago. However, we have yet to receive any notification regarding the issuance of the Red Notice," he added.
Interpol currently has a total of 6,656 public Red Notices in circulation. Only 63 of them are against Bangladeshis.
However, Interpol's website does not show any Red Notice for Hasina.
A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.
It is based on an arrest warrant or court order issued by the judicial authorities in the requesting country. Member countries apply their own laws in deciding whether to arrest a person.
On November 10, the chief prosecutor sent a letter to the inspector general of police (IGP), requesting action to issue a Red Notice through Interpol to arrest Sheikh Hasina who fled to India.
On November 12, the ICT chief prosecutor's office sent a letter to Interpol, urging it to issue a Red Notice against Hasina to facilitate her arrest and repatriation for orchestrating the killings, genocides and crimes against humanity committed during the student-led mass-uprising in July and August.
The ICT on October 17, issued arrest warrants against Sheikh Hasina and Obaidul Quader, among 46 others, in separate cases alleging genocide and crimes against humanity committed in July-August.
