BNP swore they’d deliver justice for the oppressed. Then every single conviction from their own era vanished. Every. Single. One.
Let’s get one thing straight before we start.
The July 2024 uprising was real. The students who died were real. The anger that brought down a 15-year autocracy was genuine and justified. Nobody — least of all this page — is questioning that.
But something happened on the way to justice. Something that should make every single person who marched in those streets stop and think very carefully about what comes next.
BNP rode into power on a wave of democratic promise. They talked about accountability. They talked about rule of law. They talked about ending the culture of impunity. And then — systematically, case by case, court by court — they erased every single conviction against their own people. Not some of them. Not the questionable ones. All of them.
Let me walk you through what that actually looks like.
The Acquittal Wave: A Complete List
Since the July 2024 uprising and BNP’s rise to power, every major criminal case from the 2001-2006 BNP-Jamaat era has been acquitted. Not reduced. Not commuted. Acquitted. Here’s the scorecard:
Tarique Rahman: 84 cases. Eighty-four. Every single one — acquitted. The man US embassy cables called a “symbol of kleptocratic government,” the “Dark Prince” of Bangladeshi politics, accused of laundering $20 million through international networks, of operating a parallel government from Hawa Bhaban, of facilitating the August 21 grenade attack that killed 24 people — walked free on every charge. Not because he was innocent. Because the courts, now under BNP influence, decided he was.
August 21 Grenade Attack: 49 accused. Death sentences, life imprisonments — all overturned. On December 1, 2024, the High Court acquitted every single person convicted for the attack that killed 24 people and injured over 500. The judge who originally heard the case had declared that “specialised deadly Arges grenades that are used in wars were blasted at the Awami League’s central office in broad daylight with the help of the then state machinery.” The grenades were military-grade. The state machinery was BNP’s. The court didn’t say they were innocent. The court said procedural issues made the convictions untenable. And then, on September 4, 2025, the Appellate Division dismissed the petition for retrial entirely. Case closed. Twenty-four people died and nobody is responsible.
Chittagong Arms Haul: The largest arms smuggling operation in Bangladesh’s history — 4,930 firearms, 27,020 grenades, 840 rocket launchers, over 1.14 million bullets, all destined for an Indian insurgent group, all moving through a state-owned fertilizer jetty under the noses of the National Security Intelligence and DGFI. Death sentences for the masterminds, including State Home Minister Babar and Jamaat chief Nizami. In December 2024, the High Court acquitted Babar and five others. In January 2025, the arms case convictions were also overturned. Paresh Baruah’s death sentence was reduced to 14 years. Everyone else walked.
Khaleda Zia: The Zia Orphanage Trust case — where she was convicted of embezzling over Tk 2.1 crore meant for orphans. The Zia Charitable Trust case. Three dozen cases total. All acquitted between November 2024 and January 2025. The woman who presided over the most corrupt government in the world — five consecutive years of Transparency International’s #1 ranking — now has a clean legal slate.
Shamim Iskander: Khaleda’s brother. The man who nearly bankrupted Biman Airlines with Tk 40 crore in corrupt lease commissions. Thirty-six prosecution witnesses documented his crimes. On March 25, 2025, a Dhaka court simply discharged the case. Not acquitted on appeal. Discharged at trial. He now sits in the VIP gallery at Parliament sessions.
Lutfozzaman Babar: The architect of Operation Clean Heart (44 deaths in custody). The man who oversaw the August 21 grenade attack cover-up. Convicted and sentenced to death for the grenade attack. Acquitted in December 2024 along with everyone else. Free.
Do you see the pattern? Because it’s not subtle.
The Selective Justice Problem
Here’s what makes this so dangerous: BNP didn’t just acquit their own. They weaponized the justice system against their opponents with surgical precision.
While every BNP-era conviction was being systematically overturned, the new government was busy filing new cases. Against Awami League leaders. Against journalists. Against anyone who questioned the narrative. The Anti-Corruption Commission, which we’ve already covered in this series, was repurposed from an independent watchdog into a political weapon — investigating BAL figures with vigor while BNP figures walked free from far more serious charges.
This is the exact playbook Awami League used for 15 years. The same selective prosecution. The same two-tiered justice system where your guilt or innocence depends entirely on your political affiliation. The difference is that BNP spent those 15 years in opposition complaining about exactly this kind of politicized justice.
They knew the system was broken because they were its victims. And then they got power and broke it the same way, just with different names on the indictments.
What “Acquitted” Actually Means
I need to be very precise here, because this distinction matters and it’s one BNP supporters will intentionally blur.
When a court acquits someone, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re innocent. It means the prosecution failed to prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. In Bangladesh’s current context, that failure often has less to do with evidence and more to do with who’s running the prosecution.
Consider the August 21 grenade attack. The original trial court heard testimony from Mufti Abdul Hannan, a HUJI leader who confessed that the attack was coordinated with BNP leaders including Tarique Rahman. He described how the grenades were military-grade Arges weapons, how they were thrown from rooftops with state support, how the investigation was deliberately sabotaged by the Home Minister’s office. This wasn’t speculation. It was sworn testimony from inside the conspiracy.
The acquittal didn’t contradict any of that. It cited procedural irregularities. Delays in the trial. Questions about the investigation process. These are real issues — but they’re issues that the BNP government itself created during 2001-2006 when it was actively obstructing the investigation, inventing the “Joj Mia” fabrication, and destroying evidence.
Think about that for a second. BNP obstructed the investigation. The investigation was therefore flawed. Decades later, BNP’s allies in court cite the flawed investigation as grounds for acquittal. They literally benefited from their own obstruction of justice.
This isn’t a bug. It’s the most elegant feature of authoritarian legal systems. Create the conditions for a flawed prosecution, then use those flaws to escape accountability. Awami League did it. BNP watched. BNP learned. BNP is now doing it better.
The Impunity Feedback Loop
Here’s what absolute impunity looks like in practice:
2001-2006: BNP runs Bangladesh. Opposition members are killed in “crossfire.” Grenade attacks target political rallies. The state smuggles weapons to foreign insurgents. Corruption is so systemic that Transparency International names Bangladesh the world’s most corrupt country five years running. Nobody is held accountable.
2007-2008: The caretaker government tries to hold people accountable. Cases are filed. Investigations happen. Some convictions are secured. But the process is politically messy and the military-backed government has its own legitimacy problems.
2009-2024: Awami League weaponizes those cases. They become instruments of political control, not justice. Many cases are genuine, but the selective prosecution undermines their credibility. BAL uses the justice system against opponents while protecting its own criminals.
2024-present: BNP takes power. Every case against their people is thrown out. Every conviction overturned. The justice system, already discredited by BAL’s manipulation, is now fully captured by BNP. And the cycle continues.
What does this teach the next generation of Bangladeshi politicians? It teaches them that crime pays. That corruption is consequence-free. That the only risk is being on the wrong side when the government changes, and even that risk can be managed if you’re powerful enough. It teaches them that accountability is a fairy tale told by opposition parties who have zero intention of practicing it themselves.
And it teaches the people of Bangladesh — the ones who bled in the streets in July 2024, the ones who lost family members to RAB’s crossfire, the families of the 24 grenade attack victims, the Hindu women of Bhola, the students of Shamsunnahar Hall — that their suffering doesn’t matter. That justice in Bangladesh is not a right. It’s a tool. And tools belong to whoever holds power.
The International Silence
Here’s what should trouble everyone watching from outside Bangladesh.
When Awami League was committing its abuses, the international community was vocal. Human Rights Watch issued report after report. The US Treasury sanctioned RAB. The International Crisis Group documented democratic backsliding. Western governments expressed concern.
Where is that same international community now?
When every conviction for the August 21 grenade attack is overturned — 24 people killed, 500 injured, military-grade weapons used — where is the statement from the US Embassy? When the man called a “symbol of kleptocratic government” in American diplomatic cables becomes Prime Minister with a clean legal slate, where is the concern from the European Union? When Transparency International’s five-time most corrupt country is now run by the same people who earned that distinction, where is the commentary from the World Bank?
The silence is deafening. And it’s exactly what BNP is counting on.
Because here’s the thing about international accountability: it tends to follow political winds. When Awami League was the authoritarian, Western governments felt free to criticize. But Bangladesh under BNP is now presented as a “democratic transition” — a government that came to power through a popular uprising against autocracy. That narrative makes criticism awkward. It complicates diplomatic relationships. It’s easier to stay quiet.
But staying quiet has consequences. When the international community gives BNP a pass on the same abuses they condemned under BAL, they’re not being neutral. They’re being complicit. They’re telling BNP that accountability is optional — that as long as you came to power through the “right” kind of uprising, you can rewrite your own criminal history without consequence.
The 2001-2006 Pattern: Why It Matters Now
Some will argue that this article is living in the past. That 2001-2006 was a different era, different circumstances, different Bangladesh. That we should judge BNP 2026 by what they’re doing now, not what they did twenty years ago.
To which I say: fine. Let’s judge them by what they’re doing now.
They are, right now, presiding over a justice system that has acquitted every single person convicted of crimes committed during their previous stint in power. They are, right now, using that same justice system to prosecute their political opponents. They are, right now, capturing institutions — the ACC, the judiciary, the press — in the exact same pattern that Awami League used. They are, right now, telling the international community that this is all legitimate because they were democratically elected.
And they are, right now, counting on everyone forgetting what they did the last time they had power.
We haven’t forgotten.
The 24 people killed on August 21, 2004 haven’t been un-killed. The 44 people who died in Operation Clean Heart custody haven’t been brought back. The 600+ women of Bhola haven’t received justice. The 18,000 rapes documented by the judicial commission haven’t been un-raped. The Tk 2.1 crore stolen from orphans hasn’t been returned. The $20 million laundered through Singapore hasn’t been recovered. The “Khamba Tarique” power poles still stand in rural villages, connected to nothing, monuments to a corruption so brazen it literally installed empty infrastructure.
These aren’t ancient history. They’re the foundation of the current government’s power structure. The same people who committed these crimes, covered them up, and were convicted for them are now running the country. They haven’t apologized. They haven’t acknowledged wrongdoing. They haven’t offered restitution. They’ve simply declared themselves innocent and moved on.
What Real Accountability Looks Like
Real accountability doesn’t mean prosecuting every political opponent while letting your own people walk. It doesn’t mean a “justice system” that conveniently acquits everyone on your team and investigates everyone on the other side.
Real accountability would mean:
Acknowledging the crimes. Not deflecting. Not blaming the caretaker government. Not claiming every case was “politically motivated.” Some cases were politically motivated. Many were not. The August 21 grenade attack happened. The Chittagong arms haul happened. 44 people died in Operation Clean Heart custody. These are facts, not opinions. A government committed to accountability would say: “These things happened on our watch. We will not hide from them.”
Independent prosecution. If the original investigations were flawed — and some were — the answer isn’t acquittal. The answer is a genuinely independent, international-standard reinvestigation. Invite the FBI back. Invite Interpol. Let the evidence lead wherever it leads. If the evidence doesn’t support a conviction, then acquit. But don’t acquit because the prosecution was deliberately sabotaged by your own party and then claim that’s justice.
Restitution. The people of Bangladesh — not the Awami League, not the BNP, the people — are owed reparations for the corruption, the violence, and the institutional damage. Tk 2.1 crore was stolen from orphans. Return it. $20 million was laundered abroad. Recover it. 44 people died in custody. Their families deserve compensation and an apology. Real accountability means making the victims whole, not just freeing the perpetrators.
Institutional reform. If the justice system is so broken that it can be weaponized by whichever party is in power, then fix the system. Independent judicial appointments. Protected tenure for judges. An ACC that can investigate the ruling party without fear of being dismantled. These aren’t radical ideas. They’re the minimum requirements for a functioning democracy.
None of this is happening. And until it does, the acquittal wave isn’t justice. It’s just the other side of the same coin Awami League was flipping for 15 years.
The Road We’re On
I’m going to end this article the same way I end most of them, because the conclusion keeps being the same and it keeps being ignored.
Bangladesh has been here before. Multiple times. A popular movement overthrows an authoritarian government. Hope runs high. The new government promises change. And then, slowly but surely, the same patterns emerge — not because the people are the same, though often they are, but because the system rewards the same behavior. Capture institutions. Prosecute opponents. Protect allies. Repeat.
Awami League did it for 15 years. BNP is doing it now. And if the pattern holds, whatever replaces BNP in the future will do it again. Because nobody has yet been held genuinely accountable in Bangladesh. Not under BAL. Not under BNP. Not under any government since independence.
The July 2024 uprising was supposed to break this cycle. It was supposed to be different. And maybe the students who led it still believe that. But the government they helped install is proving, with every acquittal and every new political prosecution, that the cycle isn’t broken. It’s just under new management.
The cost of impunity isn’t abstract. It’s measured in lives — the lives lost in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and now the lives being destroyed by a justice system that serves power instead of truth. Every acquittal that’s driven by political affiliation rather than evidence sends a message: you can get away with anything in Bangladesh, as long as you’re on the winning team.
The winning team changes. The impunity doesn’t.
And that’s the real scandal. Not that BNP is acquitting its own. Not that BAL prosecuted selectively. But that in 54 years of independence, Bangladesh has never once built a justice system that serves the people instead of the party in power. Every government has had the chance. Every government has chosen otherwise.
Until that changes, the acquittals will keep coming. The prosecutions will keep being selective. And the people who suffer most — the ordinary citizens of Bangladesh who just want a country where crime has consequences regardless of who commits it — will keep waiting.
They’ve been waiting since 1971.
They’re still waiting now.
Sources:
- Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, 2001-2005
- US Embassy Cable 08DHAKA1143 (WikiLeaks): Tarique Rahman described as “symbol of kleptocratic government”
- High Court Verdict, July 21, 2016: Tarique Rahman sentenced to 7 years for money laundering (overturned December 2024)
- Appellate Division, March 6, 2025: Tarique Rahman acquitted in money laundering case
- High Court, December 1, 2024: All 49 accused acquitted in August 21 grenade attack case
- Appellate Division, September 4, 2025: Dismissed retrial petition, upholding acquittal
- High Court, December 18, 2024: Babar and 5 others acquitted in Chittagong arms haul case
- Supreme Court, January 2025: Khaleda Zia acquitted in Zia Orphanage Trust case
- High Court, November 2025: Khaleda Zia acquitted in Zia Charitable Trust case
- Dhaka Court, March 25, 2025: Shamim Iskander discharged from corruption case
- Human Rights Watch: “Judge, Jury, and Executioner” (December 2006)
- International Crisis Group: Asia Report No. 121 (October 2006), No. 187 (March 2010), No. 277 (April 2016)
- The Daily Star, Prothom Alo, Dhaka Tribune: Multiple reports on court proceedings and acquittals
Series 9 — BNP 2026 = BAL 2.0? | Article #73
Bangladesh Untold documents what happened. What you do with that information is up to you.
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