Bangladesh's former ruling party slams government decision to ban all its activities

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s former ruling party accused Sunday the interim government of “stoking division” and trampling on “democratic norms” by banning all of its activities.

The government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted following a deadly mass uprising, announced late Saturday the Awami League party can no longer be active online and elsewhere in the South Asian country under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The law affairs adviser, Asif Nazrul, said the ban would remain until a special tribunal completes a trial of the party and its leaders over the deaths of hundreds of students and other protesters during an anti-government uprising in July and August last year.

He also said the government has empowered the Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal to try any political party for serious crimes.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the country's other main political party that is headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, had previously opposed the proposal to ban the Awami League party.

However, Salahuddin Ahmed, a senior BNP leader, welcomed on Sunday the Awami League trial over the protesters' death, calling it a “delayed but timely” response to a long-standing demand by his party, reported the English-language Daily Star newspaper.

The ban is expected to formally come into effect on Monday.

The Awami League's official account on X said Sunday: “People no more feel safe under Yunus," denouncing the ban that “stoked division within society, strangled democratic norms, fueled ongoing pogrom against dissenters and strangled inclusivity, all undemocratic steps under pretext of making trial of July-August violence and reform scheme.”

The party also condemned the thousands who took to the streets for two days, including supporters of a newly formed political party by students and Islamists from various groups who later joined the protests, who called for the Awami League to be banned. It accused the gatherings of being “state-sponsored.”

Thousands of protesters had issued an ultimatum to the government to ban the Awami League party by Saturday night.

Hasina, in exile in India since Aug. 5, and many of her senior party colleagues have been accused of murdering protesters after her ouster.

The United Nations human rights office said in a report in February that up to 1,400 people may have been killed during three weeks of anti-Hasina protests. In the report of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner of Human Rights recommended to “refrain from political party bans that would undermine a return to a genuine multi-party democracy and effectively disenfranchise a large part of the Bangladeshi electorate."

The student-led uprising ended Hasina’s 15 years of rule.

Bangladesh's politics is now at a crossroads.

The BNP wants an election in December and has demanded a clear-cut roadmap from the interim government, which has said the election would be held either in December or June next year, depending on the extent of reforms the government has taken up.

Protesters, some who were injured in protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year, demand a ban on her Awami League party, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

A man who was injured in protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year, stands next to a banner that reads 'My brother is in the grave, why is the murderer in the chair?' during a protest to demand a ban on her Awami League party, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Protesters, who were injured in protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year, sit with a banner that reads 'One by one Awami League supporters should be detained and taken into custody' during a protest, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Protesters, some who were injured in protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year, demand a ban on her Awami League party, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

Protesters, some who were injured in protests against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year, demand a ban on her Awami League party, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)

FILE - Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reviews an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)