Bangladesh’s interim government bans the former ruling party of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - The interim government in Bangladesh on Saturday banned all activities of the former ruling Awami League party headed by former influential Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last year in a mass uprising.

Asif Nazrul, the country’s law affairs adviser, said late Saturday the interim Cabinet headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus decided to ban the party’s activities online and elsewhere under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act. The ban would stay in place until a special tribunal completes a trial of the party and its leaders over the deaths of hundreds of students and other protesters during an anti-government uprising in July and August last year.

"This decision is aimed at ensuring national security and sovereignty, protection of activists of the July movement, and plaintiffs and witnesses involved in the tribunal proceedings,” Nazrul told reporters after a special Cabinet meeting.

Nazrul said the meeting Saturday also expanded scope for trying any political parties involving charges of killing during the anti-Hasina protest being handled by the International Crimes Tribunal.

He said a government notification regarding the ban would be published soon with details.

Hasina and many of her senior party colleagues have been accused of murder in many cases after her ouster last year. Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5 as her official residence was stormed by protesters soon after she left the country.

The United Nations human rights office in a report said in February that up to 1,400 people may have been killed during three weeks of anti-Hasina protest.

Saturday night’s dramatic decision came after thousands of protesters, including supporters of a newly formed political party by students, took to the streets in Dhaka and issued an ultimatum to ban the Awami League party by Saturday night.

The student-led uprising ended Hasina’s 15 years of rule, and three days after her fall Yunus took the helm as interim leader.