The International Crimes Tribunal yesterday issued arrest warrants against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her defence adviser Maj Gen (retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, ex-IGP Benazir Ahmed, and eight others.

The warrants are linked to a case involving extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

The tribunal, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumdar, issued the warrants after the prosecution filed a petition seeking the arrest of 11 people.

It also instructed the authorities concerned to submit an investigation report or provide an update on their arrest by February 12.

The prosecution, however, did not disclose the names of eight others, saying that they may flee if their names are revealed.

In another order following a petition submitted by the prosecution, the tribunal asked the jail authorities to produce Maj Gen (retd) Ziaul Ahsan, who is also an accused in the case, before it on February 12.

He is in prison in another case filed over crimes against humanity.

Last year, the ICT issued arrest warrant against Hasina in cases filed for her alleged involvement in crimes against humanity and genocide during the July-August uprising.

Hasina has been staying in India since she fled the country on August 5.

Briefing journalists after yesterday's court proceedings, Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam said thousands of people have been subjected to enforced disappearances over the past 15 years of Awami League rule and most of them never returned.

He added that many were kept in secret detention centres, popularly known as "Aynaghar".

"Some returned, but they were later shown arrested in cases. Some were killed, while others were released from 'Aynaghar' after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5."

"These acts are crimes against humanity as defined under the International Crimes Tribunal," he added.

The chief prosecutor claimed that members of law enforcement and intelligence agencies carried out the crimes on the instructions of Hasina.

Meanwhile, some families of enforced disappearance victims came to the International Crimes Tribunal yesterday and spoke to the media.

"We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Today [yesterday] the ICT issued arrest warrants against those responsible for the enforced disappearances that took place between 2009 and before August 5, 2024," said Sanjida Islam Tuli, the coordinator of Mayer Daak, a platform for family members of the victims of enforced disappearances.

"We expect a fair trial and that the perpetrators will be held accountable. The families of the victims want to know what happened to their loved ones."

Former army officer Hasinur Rahman, a victim of enforced disappearance, said they hope the accused will be punished for their crimes. "These heinous acts were done under orders from Sheikh Hasina."

Mir Masum Ali, uncle of Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, another victim of enforced disappearance, said he heard that Arman was picked up from in front of his two children by plainclothes men.

"He had been missing for eight years, and I had to stay out of the country for 15 years," he said, adding that Arman returned home after August 5.

Arman was picked up from his DOHS house in the capital's Mirpur on August 9, 2016, claimed his family.

His father Mir Quasem Ali, a member of the Jamaat-e-Islami's Central Executive Council, was hanged in September 2016 for crimes against humanity during the Liberation War.