🔗 Share this article

Bangladesh's former prime minister has been given a death sentence for human rights violations over her severe measures on youth demonstrations which caused her removal from power.

Hasina was declared culpable of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom were killed during the disturbances last year.

Hasina was tried in absentia by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being responsible for multiple fatalities during the protests. Hasina has denied the entire case, calling the trial as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The verdict marks a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests brought forth resentment over years of repression. Relatives of the deceased and wounded had demanded severe punishments.

Reacting to the verdict in a comprehensive declaration, Hasina said the death penalty was the temporary leadership's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her leadership's history on individual freedoms.

"I have no trepidation to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the proof can be evaluated and reviewed impartially."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under tightened security prior to the decision on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina holding a protest and celebrating as the judgment was announced.

The city has seen a notable rise in disturbances, with multiple explosives detonated and public transport vehicles burned in the days leading up to the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, local police official Jisanul Haque told news organizations.

The student-led uprising last year commenced through requests to remove state employment quotas but evolved into a more extensive dissent initiative.

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

The study recorded the gunfire from minimal distance of a number of activists, the intentional injuring of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and torture.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina verified by investigative sources in previous months implied she had approved the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the trial.

Prior to the ruling, family members of those killed during the protests stated to media representatives they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

A family representative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and abused their power".

Another relative, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "carried out before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the families of those killed [in the protests] will achieve closure in their souls."

Since Hasina's ousting, an interim government headed by economist Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A parliamentary election is scheduled for February 2026.

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

She alerted during the past month that if the the League's representatives were banned from standing in the upcoming election, numerous would avoid the ballot.

The verdict now poses a foreign relations issue for both nations. Dhaka has formally requested her extradition but to date India has expressed no readiness to agree.

Her officially designated attorney the defense lawyer said he was "sad [and wishes] the verdict had been different".

"I am unable to challenge because my clients are absent; for that reason I am sad," he stated further.

The previous week, her legal team said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN raising serious fair trial and due process issues at the ICT.

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

While the sentence grants partial finality to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the nation's partisan rifts.

"The resentment towards Sheikh Hasina and the her political party has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka told press agencies. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or displayed repentance for the fatalities of countless citizens."

The advocate declared "It makes it difficult for the organization to receive endorsement by a majority of people in this country."

The campaigner further stated that the punishment was not resolution for the kin of those killed and injured.

"We assist several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are amputees now, as a result of the harsh measures. They will never be able to forgive her."

David Bergman, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it increasingly challenging" 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 separation from Sheikh Hasina and the previous administration," he said.