Bangladesh ex-PM Sheikh Hasina’s palace to become revolution museum

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, the leader of the caretaker government in Bangladesh, announced on Monday that the former palace of ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina will be converted into a museum to commemorate the revolution that ousted her.

The museum should preserve memories of Sheikh Hasina’s alleged misrule and the people’s anger when they removed her from power, Yunush said during his tour of the battered Ganabhaban palace.

Following the student-led uprising that forced Sheikh Hasina to flee to India by helicopter on August 5, the 84-year-old microfinance pioneer was appointed the country’s “chief advisor.”

During her 15-year rule, Sheikh Hasina oversaw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of political opponents. This month, a Bangladeshi court issued an arrest warrant for her.

Before Hasina’s downfall, more than 700 people were killed during a brutal police crackdown. As she fled, thousands stormed her former residence, which the government labeled a “symbol of repression.”

The walls of the palace looted and damaged in the chaos following Hasina’s escape are covered with graffiti condemning her fallen regime.

The museum will feature a replica of the infamous “House of Mirrors” Aynaghar detention center operated by Hasina’s regime, named for the fact that detainees were never supposed to see anyone other than themselves.

“The Aynaghar should remind visitors of the torture endured by secret prisoners,” Yunus said.

Hasina’s overthrow led to at least two days of chaos, during which a museum at the home of her father, Bangladesh’s first president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was looted.

Apurba Jahangir, a press official in Yunus’s office, announced that construction would begin by December.

“The museum construction hasn’t begun yet, but it will start soon,” Apurba told AFP.

Sheikh Hasina has not been seen in public since fleeing Bangladesh. The 77-year-old was last officially reported at a military airbase near India’s capital, New Delhi.