Dhaka: Bangladesh has officially banned Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League under a revised anti-terrorism law, allowing authorities to outlaw organizations involved in alleged terrorism pending trials by the country’s war crimes tribunal.
The country officially disbanded the deposed premier Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League under a newly revised anti-terrorism law. The move comes just two days after Muhammad Yunus’s interim government banned the party’s activities under the earlier version of the law, PTI reported.
A Home Ministry official stated that, according to the notification, the Awami League and its affiliated organizations were banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2025 until the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT-BD) completes the trials of its leaders and activists. He added that Section 18 of the revised law empowers the government to declare any "entity" or organization, alongside individuals, as terrorist-affiliated based on reasonable grounds.
The Awami League government was toppled on August 5, 2024, as around 1,400 people were killed between July 15 and August 15 -- with many of them victims of retaliatory actions on Awami League supporters or policemen -- according to a UN rights office report. Formed in 1949, the Awami League led the movement for the autonomy of Bengalis in the then East Pakistan for decades and eventually led the Liberation War in 1971.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) announced it had scrapped the Awami League's registration, disqualifying the party from contesting future elections. “Today, the Ministry of Home Affairs banned the activities of Bangladesh Awami League and its affiliated organisations. In continuation of this, the Election Commission decided to suspend the registration of Awami League," EC secretary Akhtar Ahmed said hours after the government notification.
