Hasina got busy behind of her misdeeds.
Qatar-based media outlet Al Jazeera published a special report titled ‘All the Prime Minister’s Men’ in 2021. The report highlighted the kidnapping of former Bangladesh Army Chief Aziz Ahmed and his family and others using state forces, illegally taking bribes worth crores of taka, and corruption at the behest of Sheikh Hasina’s government. The British media outlet The Sunday Times reported that after the report exposed the state corruption and malfeasance of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, but her government was quick to hide it.
The report has been viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube. It won international awards. As a result, the US President Joe Biden’s administration imposed sanctions on General Aziz and his brothers. However, at the time, the then Bangladeshi government claimed that the report was ‘false, defamatory and politically motivated’. After the report was published, the brother of the leaker Zulkarnain Sayer Khan was beaten with an iron rod. The report’s collaborators were forced to leave the country out of fear.
The Sunday Times reported that they had obtained a document from Sheikh Hasina’s house after the student uprising on August 5. It states that officials from the Bangladesh High Commission in London had contacted renowned British barrister Desmond Brownie Casey in February 2021 to file a case against Al Jazeera. Barrister Brownie had also agreed to meet with Bangladeshi officials to assist in this matter. Brownie later put Hasina’s representatives in touch with a lawyer named Clark Williams, who promised to help in the case against those involved in the report in the UK.
In addition to Al Jazeera, legal action was planned against British journalist David Bergman. It was reported that Bergman’s role in the report was mentioned in several false information against him and a plan was made to detain him. Bergman helped Al Jazeera prepare the report. There was also discussion about whether the government would file the case or General Aziz. There was even a plan to file a case with a retired army officer. The media outlet claimed to have obtained documents related to the incident from Sheikh Hasina’s house after the student uprising on August 5.
Although the government planned to file a case in the UK court, instead of doing so, it pressured YouTube and Facebook to remove the report. The High Court of Bangladesh ordered the removal of the video, but YouTube and Facebook did not take any action. As a result, the report remained online.
Meanwhile, Indian media outlet The Hindu published an exclusive interview with Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, the education minister of ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government, on Saturday. In it, he claimed that Sheikh Hasina was planning to hand over power to Speaker of the National Parliament Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in early August in the face of massive student protests. The military was on the ground to ensure a lockdown to stabilize the situation so that power could be transferred. It is worth noting that Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of Prime Minister on August 5 in the face of mass protests and fled to India.
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