The most recent Awami League politician to leave Bangladesh since the overthrow of the Sheikh Hasina government was former President Abdul Hamid, who departed for Thailand early last week. Given that Hamid was a suspect in at least one murder case, a high-level investigation has been established to determine how he was permitted to depart. His departure comes when the Awami League is outlawed by Muhammad Yunus’s temporary administration.
While most Bangladeshis were sound asleep, former President Mohammad Abdul Hamid departed the country at 3 a.m. on a Thai Airways flight from the Dhaka international airport. When the interim administration realized what had happened, it established a high-level investigation and suspended and moved personnel. Among those under investigation for the actions taken against demonstrators during the anti-Sheikh Hasina agitation last year was former president Hamid.
From 2013 to 2023, Abdul Hamid presided over Bangladesh as president twice. Additionally, he is a co-accused in at least one murder case brought against Sheikh Hasina, the ousted prime minister, and her agitation-era aides in 2024. Protesters attempting to overthrow Hasina were allegedly shot dead by the Hasina dictatorship.
According to the Dhaka Tribune, Hasina and her family members, including Sheikh Rehana, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and Saima Wazed Putul, are co-accused in the murder case that was filed at Kishoreganj Sadar police station on January 14 against the 81-year-old former president. Obaidul Quader, a former minister, is also a co-accused in the case.
According to United News of Bangladesh, a high-level committee headed by Education Adviser CR Abrar has been established by Muhammad Yunus’ interim government to look into former President Abdul Hamid’s trip to Thailand.
As Hamid fled for Thailand in a lungi, Indian Bangla dailies Pratidin and Bartaman reported that police officers had been suspended and moved. His political rivals claim that he fled to avoid being tried in Bangladesh, but his family claims that he went with his brother and brother-in-law for medical care. A CCTV image of Hamid wearing a lungi and in a wheelchair was posted on both media outlets.
According to news agency PTI, the group that started the anti-reservation uproar that evolved into the anti-Hasina demonstrations, Students Against Discrimination (SAD), called for severe action against those responsible for allowing Hamid to depart within a day.
According to a story in Amader Somoy, Bangladeshi lawmaker Hannan Masud asserted that Hamid’s departure from the nation was orchestrated with the approval of those in authority, including President Mohammed Shahabuddin Chuppu, in order to spare him from prosecution.
Abdul Hamid served as a member of parliament for Hasina’s Awami League party prior to being elected president of Bangladesh. In actuality, he had begun his political career with the Chhatra League, the Awami League’s student branch. In October 2024, Yunus’s provisional government banned the Chhatra League.
Hamid’s home was one of many destroyed by Islamic radicals and fundamentalists during the Bulldozer Program in February, which also damaged Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Dhanmondi 32 home, which was later turned into a museum.
The former president’s departure coincides with the Awami League’s suspension by Muhammad Yunus’s interim administration last week.
With the publication of a gazette notice on Monday, Hasina’s Awami League was formally prohibited by a revamped anti-terrorism statute. The election commission of Bangladesh has also declared that it has revoked the Awami League’s registration, preventing it from running for office.
The Awami League, which was founded in 1949, spearheaded the Bengali community’s struggle for autonomy in what was then East Pakistan for many years, culminating in the Liberation War in 1971.
Former President Hamid’s departure for Thailand has caused a stir because many people would have rather that he be tried and punished in Bangladesh, where Hasina and a number of other Awami League officials were pushed into exile.
