🔗 Share this article

The country's previous leader has been given a death sentence for atrocities due to her crackdown on protests led by students which resulted in her ousting.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom lost their lives during the disturbances last year.

Hasina was tried while she was absent by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being the mastermind of hundreds of killings during the protests. The former leader rejected every accusation, describing the process as "unfair and agenda-driven".

The verdict marks a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over long-standing suppression. Relatives of the deceased and wounded had called for strict sentences.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, the former leader stated the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was content of her government's record on civil liberties.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a just legal forum where the evidence can be weighed and reviewed impartially."

The capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under increased safeguards prior to the decision on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina organizing a demonstration and celebrating as the sentence was declared.

The capital witnessed a recent spike in unrest, with multiple explosives detonated and coaches ignited in the time before the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, regional security representative Jisanul Haque told press agencies.

The youth-driven revolt last year began with requests to remove public sector reservation policies but evolved into a broader opposition campaign.

International human rights monitors said in a report in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could amount to "human rights atrocities".

The study recorded the gunfire from minimal distance of certain demonstrators, the intentional injuring of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and mistreatment.

Unauthorized recordings of a telephone conversation involving Hasina confirmed by media examinations earlier this year suggested she had authorized the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the legal process.

Before the decision, relatives of those who died in the demonstrations stated to media representatives they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

One relative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for her and co-accused who have "committed acts of vengeance and misused their authority".

Lucky Akther, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "carried out before the election".

"Solely at that point the kin of victims [in the protests] will achieve closure in their souls."

Following her removal, an caretaker administration led by economic expert Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A general election is planned for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Awami League, her political faction, was outlawed by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the the League's representatives were barred from participating in the upcoming election, countless would abstain the ballot.

The verdict now poses a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. Authorities have sought her return but until now India has shown no willingness to acquiesce.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "unhappy and desiring the outcome had varied".

"I even cannot appeal because my represented individuals are away; for that reason I am disappointed," he added.

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

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

Although the punishment grants partial finality to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may do little to soothe the nation's partisan rifts.

"The fury directed at Hasina and the her political party has not subsided," a Dhaka-based rights activist informed media outlets. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or displayed repentance for the fatalities of countless citizens."

She said "It makes it difficult for the party to be accepted by a bulk of the population in this country."

The advocate continued that the sentence was not resolution for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist numerous persons who suffered permanent amputations, they are currently without limbs, due to the crackdown. They cannot pardon her."

David Bergman, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it even more difficult" for her party to become a standard element of the nation's political landscape again.

This may change if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from the former leader and the previous administration," he said.