A mob attacked Bangladesh former President Abdul Hamid’s home in Kishoreganj district on Monday, hours after the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka awarded the death sentence to ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.
Hamid, whose tenure ran from 2013-2023, is the longest serving President of the trouble-torn eastern neighbour of Bangladesh. He is among the few Awami League leaders who chose to stay in Bangladesh after the fall of Hasina and the subsequent violence against Awami League leaders, functionaries, workers, supporters and sympathisers.
A section of the Bangladesh media said Monday’s attack was carried out by a group of BNP activists who were celebrating Hasina’s death sentence.
Earlier, on Monday afternoon, those assembled at the International Crimes Tribunal had clapped soon after Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, head of the three-member tribunal, read the verdict.
As the anti-Awami League parties brought out victory processions, clashes broke out in several places including the capital Dhaka. Hasina’s party, the now-banned Awami League, had called a nationwide bandh.
Around 10.30pm on Monday, around 100 BNP activists started a victory procession from Mithamoin Bazar in Kishoreganj. A splinter group from the rally headed towards the home of the former President in Kamalpur village.
Neither Hamid nor any other of his family members was at home when the attack took place.
The revelers broke open the door and upon entering the house ransacked the furniture.
Soon after Hasina fled Dhaka in August 2024, another home owned by the former President in Kishoreganj town had come under attack. In February this year, another mob had set ablaze Hamid’s home after robbing valuables.
On 8 May, Hamid had quietly left the country for Thailand which created a furore among a section of the current dispensation in Bangladesh. It was threatened that a lookout notice would be issued against Hamid, a month later when he returned after getting treated in Thailand, no action was taken.