🔗 Share this article

Bangladesh's former prime minister has been given a death sentence for atrocities stemming from her severe measures on student-led protests which caused her ousting.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of authorizing deadly measures to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals were killed during the turmoil in the previous year.

Legal proceedings were conducted in absentia by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being the mastermind of hundreds of killings during the protests. She has refuted the entire case, calling the trial as "biased and politically motivated".

The verdict marks a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over years of repression. Next of kin of victims and harmed had requested strict sentences.

Responding to the decision in a comprehensive declaration, Hasina said the death penalty was the caretaker administration's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was content of her government's record on human rights.

"I do not fear to face my accusers in a just legal forum where the facts can be assessed and reviewed impartially."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under enhanced protection before the ruling on Monday, with several of her detractors holding a protest and applauding as the sentence was declared.

The city has seen a notable rise in disturbances, with dozens of bombs exploded and buses set on fire in the time before the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, regional security representative Jisanul Haque stated to media outlets.

The protest movement led by students during 2024 commenced through demands to abolish public sector reservation policies but evolved into a more extensive dissent initiative.

International human rights monitors declared in an analysis in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could constitute "violations of human dignity".

The report documented the gunfire from minimal distance of certain demonstrators, the purposeful disabling of others, unjustified apprehensions and abuse.

Unauthorized recordings of one of Hasina's phone calls verified by media examinations earlier this year suggested she had sanctioned the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the legal process.

Before the decision, family members of those fatally injured in the unrest stated to media representatives they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

Ramjan Ali, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for Hasina and others who have "performed revengeful deeds 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 "executed before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the families of those killed [in the protests] will obtain solace in their minds."

After her departure, an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A national vote is scheduled for February 2026.

However, the Hasina's political party, the former ruling party, was banned by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

Hasina warned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were prohibited from running in the upcoming election, countless would abstain the vote.

This decision presents a foreign relations issue for the neighboring countries. The Bangladesh government has asked her repatriation but until now India has shown no willingness to acquiesce.

The legal representative assigned to her the defense lawyer said he was "unhappy and desiring the outcome had varied".

"I cannot even contest because my defendants are not present; which is why I am disheartened," he continued.

The previous week, Hasina's lawyers said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN highlighting serious fair trial and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina in conjunction with her previous domestic affairs official and top law enforcement officer.

Although the punishment provides certain resolution to families of killed in the protests, it may not significantly ease the nation's partisan rifts.

"The anger against Hasina and the Awami League has not decreased," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to media outlets. "The leader and her faction has said sorry or demonstrated contrition for the fatalities of countless citizens."

She said "This complicates matters for the party to be accepted by a most citizens in this country."

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

"We assist multiple individuals who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are currently without limbs, due to the crackdown. They cannot pardon her."

A journalist, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for her party to become a standard element of the nation's political landscape again.

This might transform if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from the former leader and the previous administration," he expressed.