Bangladesh ex-police chief faces crimes against humanity charges

DHAKA

Bangladesh's former police chief appeared in court on Wednesday accused of overseeing a deadly crackdown in a failed bid to suppress the August revolution that toppled the regime of Sheikh Hasina.

Former police inspector general Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun was flanked by serving officers as he was led into court, where prosecutors alleged he was responsible for overseeing massacres, genocide, and crimes against humanity.

Eight defendants appeared in court in Dhaka, including Ziaul Ahsan, a former commander of the feared Rapid Action Battalion paramilitary force.

Chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam, from Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal, said the eight men had committed crimes "that even devils dare not do."

Islam said the former police chief was the "commander of all atrocities carried out against the student protesters," he told reporters outside court after the hearing.

Dozens of Hasina's allies have been taken into custody since her regime collapsed, accused of involvement in a police crackdown that killed more than 700 people during the unrest that led to her ouster.

Islam presented a detailed list of crimes allegedly committed by Ahsan that included extrajudicial killings, the dismembering of bodies, and the surveillance of government critics.

The prosecution said he was also responsible for shutting down the internet during the uprising.

Ahsan denied all charges.