🔗 Share this article

The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been sentenced to death for human rights violations over her severe measures on protests led by students which caused her removal from power.

Hasina was declared culpable of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals lost their lives during the unrest last year.

Hasina was tried in absentia by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being responsible for numerous deaths during the protests. The former leader rejected the entire case, calling the trial as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The verdict marks a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over extended periods of oppression. Next of kin of victims and harmed had requested strict sentences.

Answering the judgment in a detailed document, she expressed the death penalty was the interim government's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a political force and that she was satisfied of her administration's performance on civil liberties.

"I am not afraid to confront those accusing me in a proper tribunal where the facts can be assessed and tested fairly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under increased safeguards before the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics holding a protest and celebrating as the judgment was announced.

The capital witnessed a recent spike in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and public transport vehicles burned in the period preceding the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, area law enforcement officer the police spokesperson informed press agencies.

The student-led uprising in the previous year began with calls to eliminate government job quotas but morphed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

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

The report documented the gunfire from minimal distance of some protesters, the purposeful disabling of additional individuals, arbitrary arrests and abuse.

Disclosed sound files of a call made by the former leader authenticated by investigative sources in previous months indicated she had authorized the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the trial.

Prior to the ruling, family members of those fatally injured in the unrest told press outlets they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

One relative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for Hasina and others who have "performed revengeful deeds and misused their authority".

Lucky Akther, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "executed before the election".

"Only then the kin of victims [in the protests] will obtain solace in their souls."

Since Hasina's ousting, an caretaker administration led by economist Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A parliamentary election is set for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the Hasina's political party, her political faction, was banned by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

She alerted last month that if the party's candidates were banned from standing in the imminent electoral process, millions would boycott the election.

This decision presents a foreign relations issue for both nations. Authorities have sought her repatriation but to date India has shown no willingness to agree.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer her legal counsel said he was "disappointed and hoping the verdict had been different".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; which is why I am sad," he added.

The previous week, the defense attorneys said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN raising major judicial fairness and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Hasina was tried in conjunction with her ex-interior minister and security forces head.

Even though the verdict offers some closure to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may not significantly ease the state's ideological splits.

"The fury directed at the former leader and the her political party has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to press agencies. "Neither she nor the party has apologised or demonstrated contrition for the fatalities of countless citizens."

The advocate declared "This creates challenges for the party to be accepted by a most citizens in this country."

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

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

A journalist, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it increasingly challenging" for Awami League to become a normal feature of Bangladeshi politics again.

This might transform if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from the former leader and the former hierarchy," he said.