Students who ousted Hasina are helping lead Bangladesh, from the streets to the ministries

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Within a week of unseating Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister, the students who drove out Sheikh Hasina were directing Dhaka’s traffic.

Decked out in neon vests, their university IDs slung around their necks, they clutch sticks and umbrellas to wave cars this way and that, filling the void after police went on strike. They stopped drivers, checking their licenses and telling them off for not wearing their seatbelts. Some opened trunks of cars they deemed could belong to officials from the previous government, looking for smuggled riches.

Students have not only manned roads: Two who led the charge against Hasina are settling into the interim government they ushered in just a few days after she resigned and fled to India in a military helicopter.

Before Hasina was toppled by the student movement with astonishing speed, she was seen as one of the country's most unshakeable leaders. In total, she governed for more than 20 years, most recently winning four straight terms as her rule became ever more autocratic.

The question now is what comes next in a country still reeling from the violence surrounding her removal that left hundreds dead. The students hope they can restore peace and democracy and create a “new Bangladesh,” said Asif Mahmud, one of the protest leaders now in charge of the Sports and Youth Ministry.

“We’ve got a big responsibility,” he said. “We never thought, never had an ambition, that we would take such a responsibility at this age."

"There is pressure, but confidence is also there,” said 26-year-old Mahmud.

The student-led protests began with a demand to abolish a quota system for government jobs they said favored Hasina’s allies but coalesced into a full-scale revolt against her and her Awami League government. Clashes with security forces, and the deaths that resulted, fueled wider outrage against Hasina's rule, and the students have ridden a wave of popular support.

But concerns are also simmering over their lack of political experience, the extent of their ambitions and crucially, how long it will take the interim government to organize elections. Already, the student ministers along with the protesters have said that before any vote is held, they want to reform the country’s institutions — which they say have been degraded by both the Awami League and its rival, the dynastic Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Experts warn, however, that the interim government is unelected and as such it has no mandate to implement major changes.

The government, headed by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus who was chosen by the students, “must keep in mind that their main responsibility is to hold an election,” said Zillur Rahman, executive director of the Center for Governance Studies, a Dhaka-based think tank. “They shouldn’t take any policy decisions.”

Yunus, an economist and longtime Hasina critic, is known globally for his pioneering use of microcredit to help the poorest of the poor — but also has never run a government. He’s made clear that students will play a critical role in a manner never seen before: “Every ministry should have a student,” he said.

Controlling traffic for a few days is one thing but potentially appointing students into ministries could make them “power hungry” at an especially sensitive time, said Rahman.

Nahid Islam, the other student-turned-minister, acknowledged that they have no governance experience but said the grit and determination they showed in pushing out Hasina was proof that they can get things done.

“We think the students who have succeeded in leading an uprising … and the citizens are capable enough to build the nation,” said Islam, who was born in 1998 and now runs the Ministry of Information and Technology.

In the wake of Hasina's ousting, students have mounted protests and issued ultimatums against authorities seen as close to her, demanding they quit. Six Supreme Court justices, including the chief justice, and the central bank governor all resigned in the past days.

“A modern government cannot be run on such a pattern,” said Mahfuz Anam, the editor-in-chief of The Daily Star newspaper, while adding that there have been some steps towards a stable transition process.

Many of the students who spent the past weeks protesting agree. They want the interim government to be neutral — but insist it must also be untethered to the mainstream political parties their generation has little connection to.

Alvi Mahmud, an 18-year-old student, said that if the interim government does a good job, then “people will not want BNP or Awami League or any traditional, old parties. They will want change. They will want a new way of living."

The burning question is when new elections can be held. Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, a senior BNP leader, told reporters on Monday that the party told Yunus that it would give the interim government reasonable time to create a conducive and democratic environment for the polls.

This could create “a sense of calm in the political environment,” said Anam. It could also give student leaders time to politically mobilize ahead of elections.

“We are not thinking of a political platform yet,” said Islam, the new minister. “But a young generation is ready to lead this country, that generation has been built."

For now, the country and its students are trying to come to terms with the horror of the last few weeks. More than 300 people were killed and tens of thousands injured as security forces cracked down on the demonstrations.

Students are sweeping up the streets that only recently were a battleground stained by the blood of their friends. They're cleaning up debris at homes and university campuses destroyed in the violence. And though some police have returned to the streets after a strike, many students have remained beside them to help direct traffic.

At an intersection in the heart of the city, a statue of Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — Bangladesh's first leader after its independence in 1971 — used to tower over the constant flow of traffic. Swept up in both anger and joy after Hasina fled, protesters brought it down.

A few days ago, the site of the statue was defaced with graffiti against her. “Hasina you smell of dead bodies” was scrawled on the walls. Now, students have covered those words with murals depicting unity and their fight for change.

“We salute those who fought for our victory,” someone wrote in red and green, the colors of the Bangladesh flag. "We are one," read another.

FILE - A police officer aims his weapon at protesters in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug. 5, 2024, following violence during demonstrations against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar, File)

FILE - Men run past a vehicle at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital that was set on fire by protesters during a rally against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar, File)

FILE - Asif Mahmud, a student protest leader who is now in charge of the Sports and Youth Ministry in the interim government, talks in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug.11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar, File)

Nahid Islam, left, talks to Asif Mahmud, both student protest leaders and now ministers in Bangladesh's interim government, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug.11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

FILE - Bangladesh's figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin administers the oath of office to Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, right, as the head of Bangladesh's interim government, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar, File)

FILE - People visit the vandalized museum dedicated to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, on Aug. 6, 2024, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora, File)

FILE - Military personnel stand in front of a portrait of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on July 30, 2024, during a national day of mourning to remember the victims of recent deadly clashes. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar, File)

FILE - Activists take part in a protest march against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug. 2, 2024, to demand justice for more than 200 people killed in last month's demonstrations. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar, File)

FILE - Protesters celebrate at the Parliament House after news of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Tuj Johora, File)

A student directs traffic in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

A student directs traffic in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajib Dhar)

NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein faces mounting legal and health troubles some seven years after scores of women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him, helping launch the global #MeToo movement.

On Thursday, he was indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial this fall. The grand jury decision remains sealed until he is formally arraigned in court.

Weinstein has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.

Meanwhile, the 72-year-old remains hospitalized following emergency heart surgery — just the latest in an assortment of medical ailments that have cropped up while in custody.

Here’s a recap of where things stand:

In April, New York's highest court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges, ruling that the trial judge had unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.

A new trial was ordered and the tentative start date is Nov. 12.

One of the two accusers in that case has said she is prepared to testify against Weinstein again, but it remains to be seen if the other accuser will also take the stand once more.

Weinstein had been sentenced to 23 years in prison for that conviction.

Earlier this month, prosecutors disclosed that a Manhattan grand jury had reviewed evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein.

They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.

It is unclear when Weinstein will be formally charged on those allegations, given his current health condition. The next court hearing ahead of the retrial is slated for Sept. 18.

It is also unclear how the additional allegations will factor in the retrial. Prosecutors want to include the new charges in the retrial, but Weinstein’s lawyers oppose that, saying it should be a separate case.

In 2022, Weinstein was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and another sexual misconduct count after a one-month trial in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

During the trial, a woman testified that Weinstein appeared uninvited at her hotel room during the LA Italia Film Festival in 2013 and that Weinstein became sexually aggressive after she let him in.

Weinstein’s lawyers appealed the conviction in June, arguing the trial judge wrongly excluded evidence that the Italian model and actor had a sexual relationship with the film festival director at the time of the alleged attack.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced Sept. 5 that it had decided to drop two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.’’

In 2022, the agency authorized London’s Metropolitan Police Service to file the charges against Weinstein over an alleged incident that occurred in London in 1996. The victim was in her 50s at the time of the announcement.

Weinstein also faces several lawsuits brought by women accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Among the latest is one from actor Julia Ormond, who starred opposite Brad Pitt in “Legends of the Fall” and Harrison Ford in “Sabrina.” She filed the lawsuit last year in New York accusing Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 1995 and then hindering her career.

The majority of lawsuits against Weinstein were brought to a close through a 2021 settlement as part of the bankruptcy of his former film company, The Weinstein Co. The agreement included a victims’ fund of about $17 million for some 40 women who sued him.

Weinstein’s lawyers have regularly raised concerns about his worsening health since being taken into custody following his 2020 conviction.

During his appearances in Manhattan court, he’s regularly transported in a wheelchair and his lawyers say he suffers from macular degeneration and diabetes that’s worsened due to the poor jailhouse diet.

Weinstein’s pericardiocentesis surgery last week was to drain fluid around his heart. His lawyers say his medical regimen causes him to retain water and that he must be constantly monitored to ensure the fluid buildup isn’t deadly.

A judge has granted his request to remain at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital indefinitely instead of being transferred back to the infirmary ward at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges

A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges

FILE — Harvey Weinstein appears for a pretrial hearing in Manhattan criminal court, July 19, 2024, in New York. (Adam Gray/Pool Photo via AP, File)