Bangladesh has officially banned Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League under a revised anti-terrorism law, allowing authorities to outlaw organisations involved in alleged terrorism pending trials by the country’s war crimes tribunal.
Bangladesh on Monday officially disbanded 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 gazette notification has been issued in this regard today,” home adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam told a media briefing on Monday.
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 original Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 did not contain provisions for banning entities.
On Sunday night, President Mohammed Shahabuddin issued an ordinance amending the Anti-Terrorism Act, prohibiting press statements, social media content, and public gatherings in support of individuals or entities facing trial under the law. The ordinance was signed just hours after the Council of Advisers, effectively the cabinet led by Chief Adviser Yunus, approved changes to the Anti-Terrorism Act-2009, imposing a ban on all activities of a specific entity.
It also broadened the scope of restrictions by replacing the previous reference to “listed individuals or banned entities” with a more general phrase: “any individual or entity against whom action has been taken under sub-section (1) of Section 18” of the anti-terrorism law.
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.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin two days back told reporters, “We will have to decide to go with the spirit of the present Bangladesh.”