By Dominic Giannini in Canberra

Australian National University was warned of the risk to its reputation. Its ongoing association with a foreign leader convicted in absentia of crimes against humanity wasn’t a good look. Not even close.

Yet it has been 20 months since former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigned without notice and fled to India amid allegations she ordered the killings of 1400 student protesters.

The honorary law degree bestowed upon her by ANU in 1999 needed to be revoked immediately, according to petitioning Australian academics at the time.

Notwithstanding their concerns and those raised repeatedly by AAP since, the world top-35 ranked university is still to make a call.

Instead, its administration has continued to request more information about the circumstances of Hasina’s exile and says its procedures first need to be updated.

More diligence should have applied

Anis Chowdhury, one of five academics who signed a letter calling for ANU to cancel the degree in 2024, decries the delay.

An emeritus professor at Western Sydney University and appointed special minister of state to Bangladesh’s interim government in 2025, he says more diligence should have applied to awarding the title in the first place.

“It is really disappointing to see a highly reputable public university … dragging its feet on this matter,” he tells AAP.

“Even after the UN Human Rights Commission’s finding of Sheikh Hasina’s direct involvement in the killing of protesters during the mass uprising that toppled her, and her death sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal.”

Former foreign affairs minister and ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop has removed herself from discussion of the issue due to her involvement with the United Nations.

As a result, the university’s honorary pro-chancellor was required to step in and assume her chair.

The committee tasked with dealing with the matter was most recently scheduled to meet at the end of February.

However, pro-chancellor Alison Kitchen’s resignation about a week before the meeting delayed it by a month, according to an ANU spokesperson.

Then, a meeting set down for March failed to proceed.

“Following the recent appointment of a new pro-chancellor, the committee aims to reconvene where the matter concerning Sheikh Hasina will be considered further,” the spokesperson says.

Found guilty by a Bangladeshi court on November 17 last year, Hasina was sentenced in her absence, having ceded power and vanishing 15 months earlier.

Remains in hiding in India

A hostile crowd had surrounded her residence the day of her disappearance. Amid the chaos, she was said to have slipped out of the country by car, helicopter and, finally, air force transport.

Amid reports she unsuccessfully has sought political asylum in the United Kingdom, she remained in hiding in India under tight security.

She was subsequently charged with 135 counts of murder, seven of crimes against humanity and genocide, three of abduction, six of attempted murder, and one of attacking a political procession.

It was claimed the killings involved the deliberate use of drones, helicopters and lethal weapons against civilians.

The academic petition received by ANU, a copy of which was released to AAP under freedom of information laws, stipulated their concern about reputational damage given the severe nature of the alleged atrocities.

Although accused over the violent crackdown, at the time, Hasina was still to be charged or sentenced.

“In view of Sheikh Hasina’s flagrant violations of human rights; her denting of democratic values; ruthless suppression of student protests that have left hundreds dead and thousands injured; and continued enforced disappearances and tortures in custody, it is a matter of grave concern that ANU may have inadvertently put its reputation as a centre of academic and ethical excellence at risk,” it reads.

“We urge that ANU’s Governing Council does its own investigation, verify these facts, and if found true, decide whether it is in the best interest of the university to revoke its HonLLD conferred upon Sheikh Hasina in 1999 the soonest and by doing so, uphold the academic integrity and ethical standards that ANU is known for.”

Transformation into an autocrat

The letter notes that Hasina was seen as a champion of democracy when she first assumed power in 1996 and made some laudable initiatives during her first term in office, when the degree was conferred.

“However, her second coming to power in 2008 marked the beginning of her transformation into an autocrat such that her governing arrangements have since morphed into something that demonstrate all the ‘hallmarks of fascism’,” the letter says.

“Sheikh Hasina’s intolerance to dissent has no limits.

“Arbitrary arrests and jailing of opposition politicians, and critics that include the dissenting members of the civil society and journalists are common occurrences.

“Tortures and forced disappearances of opposition leaders by Sheikh Hasina’s vicious security forces and party goons are regular features of her governing practice and are done to terrorise and silence critics.”

ANU endorsed proposed changes to its revocation procedures, noting that it wasn’t equipped to undertake in-depth investigations.

Some elements of the matter could therefore not be proved or disproved, according to minutes from an August 19, 2025 committee meeting.

At the same gathering, it was resolved that the university work with the Department of Foreign Affairs in cases where proposed revocations involved overseas recipients.

The academic petition was discussed at a December 2024 meeting of the committee, when further information was requested.

It agreed to wait for the procedures to be updated.

This information was provided eight months later, according to the corresponding minutes.

More details were requested by the committee in late 2025, although this was before Hasina was sentenced to death on November 17.

She was also found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 10 years prison in February 2026.