The Criminal Investigation Department of the Bangladesh Police on Friday published a notice in two newspapers declaring former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 260 others as “fugitives” in a sedition case, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

According to the notice, published in The Daily Star and Amar Desh, the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court ordered its publication. It was published in English and Bengali, and signed by the Criminal Investigation Department’s Special Superintendent (Media), Jasim Uddin Khan.

The notice alleged that the department had uncovered evidence of conspiratorial activities conducted from home and abroad through an online platform called “Joy Bangla Brigade” with the intent to overthrow the legitimate government of the country, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

The investigation into the matter was launched with the approval of the country’s Ministry of Home Affairs, it added.

The Criminal Investigation Department stated that it had submitted a chargesheet listing 286 persons, including Hasina, after completing an investigation involving forensic analysis of data collected from digital platforms, servers and social media, the newspaper reported.

The order by Judge Ariful Islam of the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court-17 to publish the notice came a day after Hasina told Reuters on Wednesday that she planned to stay in India, where she is in exile.

While the former prime minister expressed a desire to eventually return to Bangladesh, she said that it would only happen under certain conditions.

Hasina had resigned as the prime minister and fled to India on August 5, 2024, after several weeks of widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government. She had been in power for 16 years.

Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government on August 8, 2024.

The country is scheduled to hold its first elections since Hasina’s ouster in February 2026.

The interim government has said it will investigate Hasina in connection with allegations that she ordered the killings and enforced disappearances of dissidents during the public uprising against her regime in July and August 2024. A total of 51 cases have been filed against her, including 42 for murder. Two warrants for her arrest have also been issued.

Of the 1,400 killed and thousands injured between July 1, 2024, and August 15, 2024, the vast majority were shot by Bangladesh’s security forces, a United Nations report said in February. Of these, 12% to 13% killed were children.

In July, she was indicted by the country’s International Crimes Tribunal for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the anti-government protests.

The court’s verdict on the matter is scheduled for November 13, AFP reported.

Hasina has denied the allegations and repeatedly claimed that she is being politically persecuted.

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