Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina gets a big setback, interim government bans Awami League party:

News Topical, Digital Desk : Bangladesh's interim government has officially banned ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League, two days after Muhammad Yunus' interim government had banned its activities under a previous version of the law.

Bangladesh Home Adviser Lieutenant General (retd) Jahangir Alam told a media briefing on Monday that a gazette notification in this regard was issued today, according to news agency PTI.

Why was Sheikh Hasina's party banned?

According to the notification, the Awami League and its affiliated organisations have been banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2025 till the completion of the trial against its leaders and activists by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT-BD), a Bangladesh Home Ministry official said.

He is reported to have said that Section 18 of the amended law empowers the government to declare any entity or organisation as a terrorist organisation if it is found to be involved in terrorism on reasonable grounds. The original Anti-Terrorism Act of 2009 did not have a provision to ban an “entity”. Besides, the Election Commission (EC) said it has also cancelled the registration of the Awami League, making the party ineligible to contest elections.

Awami League's registration was also cancelled

On Sunday, the Home Ministry has banned the activities of Bangladesh Awami League and its affiliated organizations, Election Commission Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said hours after the government notification. In the same sequence, the Election Commission has decided to suspend the registration of the Awami League. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin told reporters two days ago that we have to decide to go with the spirit of the current Bangladesh.