Bangladesh’s International Criminal Tribunal on Monday issued a warrant for the arrest of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 11 others, including former military generals and an ex-police chief, for their alleged role in enforced disappearances, PTI reported.

This is the second warrant the tribunal has issued against the deposed prime minister.

Hasina fled to India on August 5 after widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government. She had been the prime minister of Bangladesh for 16 years.

Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government on August 8.

Following this, the International Criminal Tribunal registered three cases against her.

The first warrant was issued on October 17 against Hasina and 45 others on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the protests against her Awami League government between July 15 and August 5.

On Monday, PTI quoted an unidentified official of the tribunal as saying that Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mojumdar, who is the chairman of the court, issued the second warrant in connection with the enforced disappearances after hearing a prosecution petition.

An enforced disappearance refers to the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of the rights of an person by a country. It also entails a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of rights or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared individual.

The Awami League regime under Hasina had faced allegations of enforced disappearances. However, the former prime minister consistently denied the accusations.

The official was quoted as saying that the inspector general of police had been ordered to arrest the 12 persons, including Hasina, in the case and produce them before the tribunal on February 12.

The other persons include Major General (retired) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, who served as the defence adviser for Hasina, and former Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed. While Tarique Ahmed Siddique is in custody, Benazir Ahmed is absconding, PTI reported.

The matter will be heard next on February 12. “The tribunal has instructed that the investigation report be submitted on that day if completed,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, the chief prosecutor of the International Crimes Tribunal, told reporters.

The law enforcement agencies would have to provide a progress report on the arrests if the investigation report is not submitted by then, he added.

Islam claimed that those involved in carrying out the disappearances were rewarded during Hasina’s regime. Agencies such as the anti-terror outfit Rapid Action Battalion were frequently used for the purpose, he alleged.

“Over the past 15 years, a culture of fear was established in Bangladesh through enforced disappearances and crossfires,” Islam alleged. “Thousands of people were abducted by various forces, either in plainclothes or in uniform. Most of them never returned.”

The second arrest warrant comes weeks after the interim government in Dhaka said on December 23 that it had sent a note verbale, or an unsigned diplomatic communique, to India formally seeking Hasina’s extradition.

The warrant also came months after Bangladesh on August 27 set up a five-member commission to investigate all case of enforced disappearances by security forces during Hasina’s 16-year rule.

The commission was asked to trace and identify missing persons and investigate the circumstances under which they were forced to disappear by various intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

On December 14, the committee submitted the report to Yunus and said that Hasina was found to be involved in such cases. It added that it recorded 1,676 complaints about enforced disappearances, adding that 758 of these cases had been scrutinised.

The number of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh may be more than 3,500, it said.

Hasina’s Awami League government set up the International Crimes Tribunal in 2010 to try persons accused of crimes against humanity for adopting positions against the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.