🔗 Share this article

The country's previous leader has been sentenced to death for human rights violations stemming from her harsh response on student-led protests which caused her ousting.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of authorizing deadly measures to be used against activists, 1,400 of whom lost their lives during the disturbances last year.

The trial proceeded in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being the mastermind of numerous deaths during the protests. Hasina has denied the entire case, describing the process as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The verdict marks a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over extended periods of oppression. Families of those killed and harmed had called for tough penalties.

Reacting to the verdict in a comprehensive declaration, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a governing body and that she was content of her government's record on civil liberties.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the facts can be assessed and examined justly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under increased safeguards prior to the verdict on Monday, with several of her detractors staging a rally and cheering as the sentence was declared.

The city has seen a sudden increase in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and public transport vehicles burned in the time before the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, local police official the police spokesperson stated to press agencies.

The protest movement led by students in the previous year commenced through calls to eliminate public sector reservation policies but morphed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

International human rights monitors said in a report in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could constitute "violations of human dignity".

The study recorded the gunfire from minimal distance of a number of activists, the purposeful disabling of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and mistreatment.

Disclosed sound files of one of Hasina's phone calls authenticated by external reviews during the current year implied she had approved the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the legal process.

Before the decision, family members of those fatally injured in the unrest informed media representatives they wanted the former leader to face strict penalties.

A family representative, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for Hasina and others who have "performed revengeful deeds and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "executed before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will achieve closure in their souls."

Since Hasina's ousting, an caretaker administration under the guidance of economist Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A general election is planned for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Hasina's political party, the former ruling party, was banned by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

Hasina warned in the previous month that if the her faction's nominees were barred from participating in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the election.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has asked her extradition but so far India has shown no willingness to agree.

The legal representative assigned to her her legal counsel said he was "sad [and wishes] the decision had been otherwise".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; for that reason I am sad," he stated further.

Recently, Hasina's lawyers said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN pointing out significant due process and due process issues at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina alongside her ex-interior minister and police chief.

Although the punishment grants partial finality to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the country's political divisions.

"The fury directed at Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not diminished," a human rights advocate from the capital told news organizations. "Both she and the organization has apologised or displayed repentance for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "It makes it difficult for the faction to gain approval by a bulk of the population in this state."

The activist added that the penalty was not finality for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist multiple individuals who suffered permanent amputations, they are currently without limbs, because of the suppression. They will never be able to forgive her."

An analyst, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for Awami League to become a regular participant of the country's governance system again.

This could alter if "a form of contrition emerges and a disassociation with Hasina and the old leadership," he stated.