Confronting Awami League’s new ICC allegations

What should one make of the communication submitted by the Awami League to the International Criminal Court (ICC) — through a senior lawyer from the UK’s respected Doughty Street Chambers - seeking an investigation for alleged crimes against humanity involving the murder and imprisonment of party leaders or those associated with the party?

It should perhaps come as no surprise that the Doughty Street Chambers press release fails to mention that the same Awami League leadership now petitioning the ICC are themselves accused of crimes against humanity in relation to the hundreds of killings that took place between 16 July to 5 August.

This is not a mere “accusation in the abstract.” The UN’s Office of the High Commission of Human Rights (OHCHR) conducted a detailed investigation and published a Fact-Finding Report that concluded that:

"OHCHR has reasonable grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, imprisonment and infliction of other inhumane acts have taken place, as part of a widespread and systematic attack against protesters and other civilians seen as potentially joining or supporting the protests, in furtherance of the former Government’s policy to violently suppress the protests to ensure its continuation in power."

And of course, trials are now taking place at the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh, where prosecution evidence includes recordings of Sheikh Hasina telephone conversations and testimony from the former Inspector General of Police.

Nonetheless, history often shows that perpetrators can swiftly become victims - and victims, perpetrators. The Awami League claims cannot therefore be dismissed solely because of the human rights violations it perpetrated in the past.

There is no question that since 8 August and the establishment of the interim government, that many within or linked to the Awami League have been at risk of, or subject to, serious human rights violations, particularly that of arbitrary detentions.

However, that is a very different question from suggesting the Awami League has become a victim of a "crime against humanity", as alleged in the ICC application.

The most serious allegation made by the Doughty Street chambers is that 400 Awami League leaders and activists have been killed “many through beatings and lynchings by violent mobs.”

During the protest period, violent reprisals against Awami League figures certainly occurred (though it remains doubtful whether the 126 deaths cited by the party (in its submission to the UN Fact Finding mission) all fit within that description. The UN Fact-Finding Report recognised these violent reprisal incidents, noting:

"Violent mobs not only vandalized buildings and other property, but some also attacked media outlets seen as supportive of Awami League, set fire to buildings with people inside and launched violent attacks on Awami League supporters and police personnel, including by lynching some. Particularly severe cases of revenge violence occurred from 4 August as the former Government was losing its grip on power. In many places, enraged local populations released their anger about the violations and abuses they had suffered at the hands of police and Awami League officials. In some cases, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami supporters, members and local leaders were among those involved in acts of violence during the protests and in their aftermath."

However, the UN report found no evidence that these acts were carried out pursuant to a state or organizational policy—a necessary condition for classifying violence as a crime against humanity. In order to fit this condition they must have been deliberately committed by a State or organisation in furtherance of a policy, as opposed to being spontaneous, random or isolated in character.

“OHCHR found no information showing that such human rights abuses were orchestrated at a national leadership level,” it stated.

And as for the student group organising the protests, the UN report "found isolated cases in which some students initiated violence against Chhatra League supporters", but again, no evidence of orchestration was found..

There is similarly no doubt that Awami League activists have been killed since 5 August 2024. The figure of 274 deaths, as claimed by the party, appears exaggerated. Even the pro–Awami League Global Centre for Democratic Governance documented only 134 Awami League deaths—including those in custody—between 6 August 2024 and June 2025.

Setting the issue of numbers aside, media reports of these deaths suggests these killings appear to be unrelated from each other, linked to political enmities at a local level, and neither coordinated nor part of any state or party policy.

Far from indicating a policy of any kind, these killings in fact reflect a retributive post-conflict environment—one marked by efforts to settle scores against the Awami League, the inability of national political parties to restrain local activists, and a weak national government struggling to impose order.

The Doughty Street press release also states its Communication to the ICC details a “pattern where persons associated with the Awami League, or perceived to be associated with it, have been arrested on unsubstantiated grounds and imprisoned without bail or charge. Politicians, judges, lawyers, journalists, as well as people only tenuously affiliated with the Awami League, such as actors and singers, have been the subject of arrest.”

There is undoubtedly considerable truth to this claim. Thousands of individuals linked to the Awami League have either been arrested or are facing arrest—many after being named in murder cases without any credible supporting evidence. The authorities have failed to establish a system that distinguishes between cases with genuine evidence of complicity and those driven by political retaliation or guilt by association.

However, if such mass arbitrary arrests were sufficient to constitute crimes against humanity, then earlier efforts—when the Awami League itself was in power—to persuade the ICC to investigate its mass arrests of opposition activists would likely have succeeded. They did not then, and it is highly improbable they will now.

Moreover, unlike during the Awami League’s tenure, when false cases against opposition figures were often initiated by law enforcement authorities, the post–5 August murder cases have generally been filed by families of those killed during the July–August protests – though often with local political party involvement. This distinction makes it especially difficult to establish that the arrests or detentions were carried out “pursuant to a state or organizational policy,” as required under international law for crimes against humanity.

The killings and arbitrary detentions of Awami League activists are deeply troubling, but they fall well short of meeting the legal threshold for crimes against humanity. In that light, the ICC initiative can arguably be viewed as part of a broader disinformation effort by the Awami League—an attempt to divert attention from its own culpability in the July–August protest killings.

Yet this conclusion should offer no solace. Some of the abuses described in the Doughty Street communication still amount to serious human rights violations, and the interim government has done far too little to prevent or redress them.

For those who hoped that the fall of the Awami League government would mark a turning point for human rights and accountability in Bangladesh, the reality is profoundly disappointing. What has emerged instead is a cycle of vengeance and repression, suggesting that the country remains trapped in a politics where impunity merely changes hands.

*David Bergman has written about Bangladesh for many years. He can be contacted on X at @TheDavidBergman

*The views expressed are the author’s own.