Bangladesh revokes diplomatic passport of ex-PM Hasina: government

DHAKA, Aug 22, 2024 (AFP): Bangladesh's interim government revoked the diplomatic passport of ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Thursday, after she fled a student-led uprising earlier this month.     

The interior ministry said in a statement that Hasina's passport, as well as those belonging to former government ministers and ex-lawmakers no longer in their posts, "have to be revoked".     

More than 450 people were killed -- many by police fire -- during the weeks leading up to Hasina's ouster, as crowds stormed her official residence in Dhaka.     

A United Nations team arrived in Bangladesh on Thursday to assess whether to investigate alleged human rights violations committed during protests that ended Hasina's iron-fisted 15-year rule.     

"The former prime minister, her advisers, the former cabinet and all members of the dissolved national assembly were eligible for diplomatic passports by virtue of the positions they held," the ministry said in a statement.     

"If they have been removed or retired from their posts, their and their spouses' diplomatic passports have to be revoked."     

Hasina's government was accused of widespread abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killing of political opponents.     

Dhaka's new authorities said that Hasina, and other former top officials during her tenure, could apply for a standard passport, but that those documents were contingent on approval.     

"When the aforementioned people apply afresh for ordinary passports, two security agencies have to clear their application for their passports to be issued," the ministry added.     

Hasina, who fled to India, was a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu-nationalist government preferred her over her rivals from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which it saw as closer to conservative Islamist groups.     

While India is hosting Hasina, Modi has also offered his support to the new Bangladeshi leader Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who is heading the caretaker administration.     

Yunus has said his administration would "provide whatever support" UN investigators need.(RSS)