🔗 Share this article

Bangladesh's former prime minister has been sentenced to death for atrocities due to her crackdown on youth demonstrations which resulted in her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, among whom around 1,400 people died during the turmoil last year.

Hasina was tried while she was absent by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being responsible for multiple fatalities during the protests. The former leader rejected the entire case, labeling the proceedings as "unfair and agenda-driven".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over extended periods of oppression. Next of kin of victims and injured had demanded tough penalties.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, the former leader stated the capital punishment was the caretaker administration's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was satisfied of her government's record on human rights.

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

The capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under tightened security ahead of the ruling on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics holding a protest and applauding as the sentence was declared.

The city has seen a recent spike in turmoil, with numerous incendiary devices set off and coaches ignited in the time before the verdict.

One explosive incident was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, regional security representative the authorities' representative stated to media outlets.

The protest movement led by students during 2024 commenced through demands to abolish public sector reservation policies but transformed into a broader opposition campaign.

International human rights monitors stated in a document in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could represent "crimes against humanity".

The report documented the gunfire from minimal distance of a number of activists, the purposeful disabling of additional individuals, unjustified apprehensions and abuse.

Leaked audio of a telephone conversation involving Hasina verified by external reviews in previous months implied she had approved the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the legal process.

Before the decision, relatives of those killed during the protests told press outlets they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

Ramjan Ali, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for her and co-accused who have "performed revengeful deeds and misused their authority".

A different family member, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "executed before the election".

"Only then the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will find peace in their hearts."

After her departure, an caretaker administration led by economist Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A parliamentary election is planned for February 2026.

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

The former leader cautioned during the past month that if the her faction's nominees were barred from participating in the imminent electoral process, countless would abstain the election.

The judgment creates a international dilemma for India and Bangladesh. Dhaka has formally requested her return but to date India has demonstrated no inclination to comply.

Her officially designated attorney Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "disappointed and hoping the verdict had been different".

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

The previous week, her legal team said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN raising significant due process and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina alongside her previous domestic affairs official and top law enforcement officer.

Even though the verdict offers some closure to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may do little to soothe the state's ideological splits.

"The anger against the former leader and the her political party has not decreased," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka told news organizations. "Both she and the organization has expressed regret or shown any remorse 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 country."

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

"We work with several people who suffered permanent amputations, they are now disabled, because of the suppression. They will never be able to forgive her."

An analyst, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it particularly hard" for the political faction to become a standard element of the nation's political landscape again.

This might transform if "there is some kind of apology and a separation from the former leader and the previous administration," he expressed.