LONDON: A cross-party coalition of prominent British parliamentarians has formally petitioned UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, calling on His Majesty’s Government to coordinate an international diplomatic initiative to secure legally binding safeguards against the death penalty for former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina should she return to Dhaka.
The joint representation sent to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was spearheaded by senior Conservative MP Bob Blackman, alongside House of Commons colleagues Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party) and Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party), Scottish Parliament members Martyn Day, Paul McLennan, and Alan Brown, and former Member of the European Parliament Dr Charles Tannock.
The lawmakers urged the British government to demand an “unequivocal written undertaking from competent authorities in Dhaka that Sheikh Hasina will not be executed, accompanied by statutory and procedural mechanisms necessary to enforce it.”
“Our core concern is that criminal jurisprudence in Bangladesh is being weaponised to settle domestic political scores,” the lawmakers wrote. “While serious allegations against Sheikh Hasina warrant independent, forensic investigation and rigorous legal adjudication, judicial processes must never degenerate into instruments of state retaliation or the systematic exclusion of opposition figures.”
The diplomatic appeal arrives as legal representatives from a London-based chambers formally submitted documentation to the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi requesting a fresh passport and National Identity Card for the 79-year-old former prime minister, who has signalled her intention to return to Bangladesh in December to contest ongoing legal charges.
Hasina has resided in India since August 2024 following massive student-led street uprisings that culminated in the fall of her Awami League administration. Subsequently, a tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced her to capital punishment in absentia in connection with alleged crimes against humanity linked to security crackdowns on demonstrators—proceedings Hasina has categorically rejected as politically orchestrated.
Echoing procedural reservations flagged by global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW), the British lawmakers raised concerns regarding trials held in absentia without defense counsel of the accused’s choosing. They urged the UK to lead a four-pillar framework: securing absolute protections against summary execution, establishing international courtroom monitoring, guaranteeing unfettered legal representation, and fostering democratic political reconciliation across the Commonwealth partner nation.
Published by True Roots Media