🔗 Share this article

The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been given a death sentence for atrocities due to her severe measures on student-led protests which resulted in her removal from power.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals died during the unrest last year.

Hasina was tried in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India following her ouster in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being behind multiple fatalities during the protests. She has refuted the entire case, calling the trial as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

This judgment represents a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over long-standing suppression. Relatives of the deceased and harmed had called for strict sentences.

Answering the judgment in a detailed document, the former leader stated the capital punishment was the interim government's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a electoral entity and that she was content of her government's record on human rights.

"I have no trepidation to confront those accusing me in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and examined justly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under increased safeguards before the decision on Monday, with several of her detractors holding a protest and applauding as the verdict was read.

Dhaka experienced a recent spike in disturbances, with dozens of bombs exploded and coaches ignited in the days leading up to the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, local police official Jisanul Haque stated to media outlets.

The student-led uprising during 2024 started with requests to remove state employment quotas but morphed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

United Nations rights examiners declared in an analysis in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could amount to "violations of human dignity".

The paper detailed the gunfire from minimal distance of a number of activists, the intentional injuring of others, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment.

Unauthorized recordings of a telephone conversation involving Hasina confirmed by external reviews during the current year implied she had approved the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the trial.

Prior to the ruling, family members of those fatally injured in the unrest informed press outlets they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

One relative, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for her and co-accused who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and exploited their positions".

Lucky Akther, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "carried out before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will find peace in their minds."

Following her removal, an temporary leadership under the guidance of economic expert Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A parliamentary election is planned for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Awami League, the former ruling party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

Hasina warned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were barred from participating in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the ballot.

The judgment creates a diplomatic challenge for India and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has asked her extradition but until now India has shown no willingness to agree.

Her officially designated attorney Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "sad [and wishes] the verdict had been different".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; for that reason I am disheartened," he added.

Recently, the defense attorneys said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN highlighting major judicial fairness and due process issues at the ICT.

Hasina was tried alongside her ex-interior minister and police chief.

Even though the verdict offers some closure to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may do little to soothe the nation's partisan rifts.

"The anger against Hasina and the her political party has not subsided," a Dhaka-based rights activist stated to press agencies. "Neither she nor the party has expressed regret or shown any remorse for the fatalities of countless citizens."

The activist stated "This creates challenges for the party to be accepted by a majority of people in this state."

The activist added that the penalty was not finality for the relatives of those who died and were wounded.

"We support numerous persons who suffered permanent amputations, they are now disabled, due to the crackdown. They are incapable of excusing her."

A journalist, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "fundamental aspect of the condemnation could make it increasingly challenging" for her party to become a regular participant of the nation's political landscape again.

This might transform if "a form of contrition emerges and a disassociation with the former leader and the former hierarchy," he expressed.