Bangladesh’s political parties sign landmark reform charter

Bangladesh's most powerful political parties signed a charter on Friday aimed at ensuring democratic reform after next year's elections, following a mass uprising that toppled the previous government.

However, celebrations of the government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus were muted after one party refused to sign, with police also firing tear gas to quash rock-throwing protesters ahead of the ceremony.

Yunus, 85, has championed the document as his legacy, saying he inherited a "completely broken down" system and that reforms are needed to prevent a return to authoritarian rule.

"This is the moment we are ushering in a new Bangladesh," Yunus told the ceremony, held in front of parliament in Dhaka. "We have been reborn."

The South Asian nation of 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister by a student-led revolt in August 2024.

The document, dubbed the "July Charter" after last year's uprising, has sparked intense arguments between parties jostling for power ahead of polls slated for February.

Yunus, who has pledged to step down after elections, says it will strengthen checks and balances between the executive, judicial and legislative branches.

It includes proposals for a two-term limit for prime ministers and expanded presidential powers. It also aims to enshrine the recognition of Bangladesh as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation.

Leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), seen as among the election front-runners, as well as Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim-majority nation's largest Islamist party, signed the charter.

However, the National Citizen Party (NCP), made up of many students who spearheaded the uprising that ended Hasina's rule, boycotted the ceremony.

Ahead of the ceremony, police and protesters clashed, including those who took part in demonstrations last year, demanding compensation for those who were injured.

"The bloodshed of martyrs is now forgotten," said Khandakar Mashruk Sarkar, 48.

The charter was given a last-minute amendment to include monthly allowances for injured protesters. The document is expected to be ratified either by a referendum or by the new parliament to be elected.

Mohammad Ibrahim Hossain, 25, an electrician, among the crowd watching the ceremony, was unclear exactly what changes the charter would make.

"I don't know what is in it, or what good it will bring for us," he said. "I just don't want to see people die anymore."

Earlier, in a separate development, a prosecutor in a special domestic tribunal in Bangladesh sought the death penalty for Hasina in a case involving charges of crimes against humanity in a mass uprising last year that forced her to leave the country.

During the protests in July and August 2024, hundreds of people including students, security officials and political activists were killed in the weekslong violence.

Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam, in his closing arguments to the International Crimes Tribunal in the capital, Dhaka, also called for former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan to be sentenced to death because of the gravity of his crimes.

In his closing, the prosecutor left a decision on the sentence for former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun up to the tribunal. Al Mamun, who is in custody, became a state witness against Hasina and had earlier pleaded guilty.

Hasina has been in exile in India after fleeing the country on since Aug.5 last year. Khan is also believed to be in India.

More proceedings are needed to complete the trial before a verdict is rendered.

Hasina did not appoint any lawyers to represent her, and she had earlier rejected the trial process as a "kangaroo court."

The next proceedings will be held on Monday. A state-appointed counsel for Hasina has sought a week to present his arguments.

Islam in his arguments called Hasina the "mastermind and principal architect" behind the crimes against humanity committed during the uprising.

The United Nations in a February report said up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the violence, while the country's health adviser under the interim government said more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured.

Agencies