DHAKA: Bangladesh said on Sunday it was “surprised” and “shocked” that India had allowed fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to make a public address in New Delhi.
Hasina, 78, fled to neighboring India in August 2024 after a student-led uprising ended her iron-fisted 15-year rule. She made her first public speech since then in an audio address to a packed press club in Delhi on Friday.
She was found guilty in absentia by a Dhaka court in November of incitement, issuing an order to kill and inaction to prevent atrocities and was sentenced to be hanged.
“The government and the people of Bangladesh are surprised and shocked,” Dhaka’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Allowing the event to take place in the Indian capital and letting mass murderer Hasina openly deliver her hate speech... constitute a clear affront to the people and the Government of Bangladesh.”
It said allowing Hasina to make the speech set “a dangerous precedent” that could “seriously impair bilateral relations.”
Bangladesh voters go to the polls on February 12 to choose new leaders after a period of turmoil that followed the overthrow of Hasina’s autocratic government.
Hasina said in her audio address that “Bangladesh will never experience free and fair elections” under interim leader Muhammad Yunus.
More than 100,000 people watched the address, which was broadcast online.
Bangladesh has asked India to extradite Hasina, but New Delhi has yet to comment on the request.
India’s past support for Hasina has frayed relations between the South Asian neighbors since her overthrow.
Bangladesh criticizes India over fugitive leader Hasina’s speech
https://arab.news/4wd48
Bangladesh criticizes India over fugitive leader Hasina’s speech
- Hasina said in her audio address that “Bangladesh will never experience free and fair elections” under interim leader Muhammad Yunus
Minister walks out of film festival after accusations of German role in Gaza ‘genocide’
- Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib said the German government “are partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel”
BERLIN: A German minister walked out of the awards ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival after a prize-winning director accused Germany of complicity in the “genocide” committed by Israel in Gaza.
Social Democratic Environment Minister Carsten Schneider left the ceremony on Saturday evening because of “unacceptable” remarks, his ministry said.
Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Al-Khatib, who picked up a prize for Best First Feature Award with his “Chronicles from the Siege,” said in his speech that the German government “are partners in the genocide in Gaza by Israel. I believe you are intelligent enough to recognize this truth.”
Schneider was the only member of the German government attending the ceremony though he was not representing it, his ministry told AFP.
The Ministry of Culture, contacted by AFP to find out the reason for the absence of its minister Wolfram Weimer, did not respond immediately.
A leading member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative party, Alexander Hoffmann, denounced what he said were “repugnant scenes” of “antisemitic” during the ceremony.
“The accusations of genocide, the antisemitic outbursts, and the threats against Germany at the Berlinale are absolutely unacceptable,” Hoffmann, head of the Christian Social Union, the Bavarian party allied with Merz’s Christian Democratic Union, told the Bundestag.
The CDU mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner told newspaper Bild that “The open display of hatred toward Israel is in direct contradiction with what this festival represents.”
The backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East led to a tense 76th edition of the festival.
More than 80 film professionals criticized the Berlinale’s “silence” on the war in Gaza in an open letter, accusing the festival of censoring artists “who reject the genocide” they believe Israel has committed in Gaza.
Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy withdrew from the festival after jury president Wim Wenders said cinema should “stay out of politics” when asked about Gaza.
