Awami League | DD News

February 11, 2026 3:29 PM

Bangladesh election offers hope to garment sector battered by tariffs and unrest

Millions of Bangladeshi garment workers and their bosses will vote on Thursday for a new government hoping it can save the country's biggest industry, which has suffered six straight months of falling exports due to U.S. tariffs and domestic political and labour unrest. The garment sector is Bangladesh's economic lifeblood, driving 80% of exports and more than 10% of the economy, and supplies some of the world's global brands. In a country of 175 million, nearly four million workers, mostly wo...

February 11, 2026 3:27 PM

Why is Bangladesh holding a national referendum alongside its general election?

Bangladesh will hold a national referendum on Thursday together with its first parliamentary election since violent protests ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. The referendum will give people a chance to vote on reforms to state institutions. Here is a look at why the referendum is being held, and what it entails. WHY IS A REFERENDUM NEEDED? The referendum focuses on implementing the 'July Charter' drafted after the 2024 uprising to establish good governance, democracy...

February 11, 2026 12:27 PM

Bangladesh’s Tarique Rahman: From exile to edge of power

Less than two months after returning from nearly two decades of self‑imposed exile in London, Tarique Rahman could win one of Bangladesh's most pivotal elections and become prime minister, leading the country as his parents once did. If opinion polls hold, Thursday's election would mark a remarkable reversal of fortune for the soft‑spoken 60-year-old, who left the country in 2008 saying he needed medical treatment after his release from detention under a military‑backed caretaker administ...

February 11, 2026 12:21 PM

Islamist leader rises from obscurity to challenge for Bangladesh’s top job

Shafiqur Rahman has long been on the margins of Bangladeshi politics, but his bearded face now appears on posters and billboards across Dhaka, urging voters to elect the country’s first Islamist‑led government in a general election on Thursday. The 67‑year‑old doctor and Jamaat‑e‑Islami party chief has risen from near obscurity to be a serious contender for prime minister, after decades of being mostly known only in Islamist circles. A Jamaat coalition is expected to put up a close...

November 18, 2025 12:19 PM

UN chief Antonio Guterres opposes death penalty for Sheikh Hasina

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is against the death penalty imposed on Sheikh Hasina by a Bangladesh court, said his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. “We stand against the use of the death penalty in all circumstances”, he said on Monday, replying to a question at his daily briefing on the sentence imposed in absentia on the leader who is in exile in India. Dujarric cited a statement by UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk and said that “we fully agree with” his oppositi...

November 18, 2025 12:14 PM

Protests, arson rock Bangladesh following verdict against Sheikh Hasina

Bangladesh witnessed a night of widespread protests and arson after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday. Several vehicles were torched across at least five districts as unrest spread rapidly. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is a domestic special court system in Bangladesh established to prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War. The trib...

November 18, 2025 11:14 AM

‘India remains committed to best interests of people of Bangladesh’: MEA after ICT verdict on Sheikh Hasina

The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said that India has taken note of the verdict announced by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh" concerning former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and said that India remains committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh. The MEA underlined that India will always engage constructively with all stakeholders. The statement said, "India has noted the verdict announced by the " International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh" concerning ...

November 17, 2025 4:56 PM

Verdict against me biased, politically motivated: Sheikh Hasina

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday reacted to the verdict against her, calling it the decision of a “rigged tribunal” established and run by an unelected government with no democratic mandate. A Bangladesh court on Monday afternoon found ousted former PM Hasina guilty of committing "crimes against humanity" during the July-August uprising in 2024. Local media reported that the International Crimes Tribunal-1 has sentenced Hasina to death. The tribunal found the former...

November 17, 2025 2:38 PM

Bangladesh’s ousted PM Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death for students crackdown

A Bangladesh war crimes court sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death on Monday, concluding a months-long trial that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year. The ruling is the most dramatic legal action against a former Bangladeshi leader in decades and comes months ahead of parliamentary elections expected to be held in early February. Hasina's Awami League party has been barred from contesting and it is feared that Monday's verdict c...

November 17, 2025 11:48 AM

Bangladesh court to deliver verdict today in crimes against humanity trial of ex-PM Sheikh Hasina

In Bangladesh, the International Crimes Tribunal will announce its verdict today in the high-profile crimes against humanity case involving former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and two of her close aides. The three-judge panel, headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, confirmed the verdict date as security was stepped up across Dhaka. Additional forces from the Border Guard Bangladesh, Rapid Action Battalion and the army have been deployed around the tribunal premises. The charges again...