🔗 Share this article

The country's previous leader has been given a death sentence for crimes against humanity due to her harsh response on protests led by students which led to her removal from power.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of authorizing deadly measures to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom died during the turmoil in the previous year.

Hasina was tried while she was absent by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India following her ouster in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being behind hundreds of killings during the protests. She has refuted the entire case, describing the process 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 wounded had called for tough penalties.

Answering the judgment in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the caretaker administration's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was satisfied of her administration's performance on human rights.

"I do not fear to face my accusers in a just legal forum where the proof can be evaluated and examined justly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under enhanced protection prior to the ruling on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina holding a protest and cheering as the judgment was announced.

Dhaka experienced a sudden increase in turmoil, with multiple explosives detonated and coaches ignited in the time before the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, area law enforcement officer Jisanul Haque told news organizations.

The student-led uprising during 2024 began with requests to remove state employment quotas but morphed into a broader opposition campaign.

United Nations rights examiners stated in a document in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could represent "human rights atrocities".

The study recorded the firing at close quarters of a number of activists, the purposeful disabling of additional individuals, unwarranted detentions and abuse.

Disclosed sound files of one of Hasina's phone calls verified by media examinations during the current year suggested she had approved the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the legal process.

Ahead of the verdict, kin of those fatally injured in the unrest informed news agencies they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

One relative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "carried out before the election".

"Only then the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will obtain solace in their souls."

Since Hasina's ousting, an temporary leadership under the guidance of economic expert Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A parliamentary election is planned for February 2026.

However, the Hasina's political party, Hasina's political party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

Hasina warned last month that if the the League's representatives were prohibited from running in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the ballot.

The verdict now poses a diplomatic challenge for both nations. The Bangladesh government has asked her repatriation but to date India has expressed no readiness to comply.

The legal representative assigned to her Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "disappointed and hoping the decision had been otherwise".

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; that's why I am disappointed," he added.

Recently, the defense attorneys said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN highlighting major judicial fairness and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Hasina was tried together with her former home minister and police chief.

While the sentence provides certain resolution to families of killed in the protests, it may not significantly ease the country's political divisions.

"The anger against the former leader and the her political party has not decreased," a human rights advocate from the capital told media outlets. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or displayed repentance for the killings of hundreds of people."

The advocate declared "It makes it difficult for the organization to receive endorsement by a most citizens in this state."

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

"We assist several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, due to the crackdown. They cannot pardon her."

A journalist, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it increasingly challenging" for the political faction to become a regular participant of the nation's political landscape again.

This may change if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from Sheikh Hasina and the former hierarchy," he stated.