Former PM Hasina’s palace becomes revolution museum
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DHAKA: Once a heavily guarded palace, the former official residence of Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina is being turned into a museum as a lasting reminder of her autocratic rule.
Photographs of jubilant flag-waving crowds clambering onto the rooftop of the Dhaka palace after Hasina fled by helicopter to India were a defining image of the culmination of student-led protests that toppled her government on Aug 5, 2024.
One year later, with the South Asian nation of around 170 million people still in political turmoil, the authorities hope the sprawling Ganabhaban palace offers a message to the future. Graffiti daubed on the walls condemning her regime remains untouched.
“Freedom”, one message reads. “We want justice.” Hasina’s rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024 in her failed bid to cling to power, according to the United Nations.
The 77-year-old has defied court orders to attend her ongoing trial on charges amounting to crimes against humanity in Dhaka, accusations she denies. “Dictator”, another message reads, among scores being protected for posterity. “Killer Hasina”.
Witnesses speak of ‘horrific violence’ during uprising
Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who is leading the caretaker government until elections are held in early 2026, said the conversion to a museum would “preserve memories of her misrule and the people’s anger when they removed her from power”.
‘Symbol of fascism’
Mosfiqur Rahman Johan, 27, a rights activist and documentary photographer, was one of the thousands who stormed the luxurious palace, when crowds danced in her bedroom, feasted on food from the kitchens, and swam in the lake Hasina used to fish in. “It will visualise and symbolise the past trauma, the past suffering — and also the resistance,” he said.
“Ganabhaban is a symbol of fascism, the symbol of an autocratic regime”. The complex was built by Hasina’s father, the first leader of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and Hasina made it her official residence during her 15 years in power.
Tanzim Wahab, the curator of the under-construction museum, said that exhibits would include artefacts of the protesters killed.
Their life stories will be told through films and photographs, while plaques will host the names of the people killed by the security forces during the longer period of Hasina’s rule.
“The museum’s deeper purpose is retrospective, looking back at the long years of misrule and oppression”, said Wahab. “That, I believe, is one of the most important aspects of this project.” Wahab said the museum would include animation and interactive installations, as well as documenting the tiny cells where Hasina’s opponents were detained in suffocating conditions.
“We want young people... to use it as a platform for discussing democratic ideas, new thinking, and how to build a new Bangladesh,” Wahab said.
Ex-PM’s trial
Witnesses in the trial of Bangladesh’s fugitive ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday detailed horrific violence and denial of medical treatment, speaking on the eve of the anniversary of her ouster.
She has defied court orders to return from India to attend her trial on charges amounting to crimes against humanity, over the deadly crackdown on the uprising.
Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024, according to the United Nations.
Philosophy student Abdullah Al Imran, 25, said his left leg had been blasted “wide open” by gunshot during the protests, describing how it had been left “barely attached to the rest of my body by a thin layer of skin”.
Imran told the court how, when Hasina visited the hospital ward where he was recovering, he told her he had been shot by the police. He said he overheard Hasina give the order of “no release, no treatment”, referring to injured protesters.
“I didn’t understand the meaning of the order at first, but later I did — as my surgery was repeatedly delayed,” Imran said, adding he was not given the right antibiotics, and his parents were blocked from moving him to a private hospital.
“My leg started to rot,” he said, and showed the court his still bandaged leg. “People couldn’t stand the stench coming from it.” Prosecutors have filed five charges against Hasina — including failure to prevent mass murder — which amount to crimes against humanity under Bangladeshi law.
Hasina is on trial in absentia alongside two other accused, her former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, also a fugitive, and ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who is in custody and has pleaded guilty.
Hasina is defended by a state-appointed lawyer, but she has refused to accept the authority of the court. Another witness described how she was blinded in one eye when police fired at close range, the third to give evidence detailing the brutality of the crackdown.
The trial continues, although no hearing will be held on Tuesday, which has been declared a public holiday to mark the one-year anniversary of Hasina’s downfall.
Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2025
