Bangladesh’s former President Mohammad Abdul Hamid boarded a Thai Airways flight from the Dhaka international airport at 3am and left the country as most Bangladeshis were in a deep sleep. As the interim government woke up and found what had happened, it suspended and transferred officials and constituted a high-level probe. Former president Hamid was among those being probed for the measures taken against protesters during the anti-Sheikh Hasina agitation last year.
Abdul Hamid served as the President of Bangladesh for two terms — from 2013 to 2023. He is also a co-accused in at least one case of murder filed against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her aides from the agitation period in 2024. The Hasina regime was accused of opening fire and killing protesters who were out to oust her.
The 81-year-old former president is an accused in the murder case filed at Kishoreganj Sadar police station on January 14, according to the Dhaka Tribune, with Hasina, and her family members, like Sheikh Rehana, Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Saima Wazed Putul, being the co-accused. Former minister Obaidul Quader is also a co-accused in the case.
The interim government of Muhammad Yunus has formed a high-level committee led by Education Adviser CR Abrar to investigate the departure of former President Abdul Hamid to Thailand, according to news agency United News of Bangladesh.
Police officers have been suspended and transferred as Hamid left, according to Indian Bangla dailies, Pratidin and Bartaman, in a lungi, for Thailand. His family members say he left with his brother and brother-in-law for medical treatment, but his political opponents say that he has fled to escape being tried in Bangladesh.
The Students Against Discrimination (SAD), the outfit that launched the anti-reservation stir that took the shape of the anti-Hasina protests. The students’ outfit demanded punitive measures against the people who were to blame for letting Hamid leave within 24 hours, according to news agency PTI.
Bangladeshi politician Hannan Masud claimed that Hamid’s fleeing the country was managed with the permission of those in power, especially President Mohammed Shahabuddin Chuppu, so that he could avoid being tried, according to a report in Amader Somoy.
Before becoming the President of Bangladesh, Abdul Hamid was a Member of Parliament from Hasina’s Awami League party. He had, in fact, started his political journey with the student wing of the Awami League — the Chhatra League. The Chhatra League has been banned by the interim government of Yunus in October 2024.
Hamid’s house was among those demolished by fundamentalists and Islamic radicals during the Bulldozer Programme in February, when even the Dhanmondi 32 house (turned into a museum) of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was destroyed.
The former president’s leaving the country comes even as the interim government of Muhammad Yunus banned the Awami League last week.
On Monday, a gazette notification was released, officially banning Hasina’s Awami League under a revised anti-terrorism law. Bangladesh’s election commission has also announced that it has cancelled the registration of the Awami League, barring it from contesting polls.
Formed in 1949, the Awami League led the movement for the autonomy of Bengalis in the then East Pakistan for decades and eventually led to the Liberation War in 1971.
With Hasina and several other Awami League leaders forced into exile, former President Hamid’s leaving for Thailand has raised a storm as there are many who would have wanted him to be tried and punished in Bangladesh.