🔗 Share this article

The country's previous leader has been given a death sentence for human rights violations over her crackdown on student-led protests which led to her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals died during the disturbances in the previous year.

Legal proceedings were conducted without her presence by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India following her ouster in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being the mastermind of numerous deaths during the protests. The former leader rejected all charges, labeling the proceedings as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

This judgment represents a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over years of repression. Relatives of the deceased and wounded had demanded severe punishments.

Responding to the decision in a detailed document, the former leader stated the execution sentence was the temporary leadership's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a political force and that she was satisfied of her government's record on civil liberties.

"I do not fear to confront those accusing me in a fair court where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under increased safeguards ahead of the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics staging a rally and applauding as the verdict was read.

Dhaka experienced a recent spike in disturbances, with numerous incendiary devices set off and coaches ignited in the period preceding the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, regional security representative the police spokesperson told press agencies.

The student-led uprising in the previous year commenced through demands to abolish public sector reservation policies but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.

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

The report documented the gunfire from minimal distance of some protesters, the purposeful disabling of additional individuals, unwarranted detentions and torture.

Unauthorized recordings of a call made by the former leader confirmed by media examinations earlier this year suggested she had sanctioned the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the proceedings.

Prior to the ruling, family members of those fatally injured in the unrest stated to news agencies they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for her and co-accused who have "performed revengeful deeds and misused their authority".

Lucky Akther, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "carried out before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the kin of victims [in the protests] will achieve closure in their hearts."

After her departure, an interim government led by economic expert Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A national vote is set for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Awami League, her political faction, was banned by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

The former leader cautioned last month that if the the League's representatives were prohibited from running in the imminent electoral process, numerous would avoid the ballot.

The verdict now poses a diplomatic challenge for India and Bangladesh. Dhaka has formally requested her repatriation but so far India has expressed no readiness to acquiesce.

Her officially designated attorney Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "sad [and wishes] the verdict had been different".

"I am unable to challenge because my defendants are not present; that's why I am disheartened," he continued.

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

Hasina was tried in conjunction with her previous domestic affairs official and top law enforcement officer.

Even though the verdict grants partial finality to families of killed in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the country's political divisions.

"The resentment towards Sheikh Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not decreased," a Dhaka-based rights activist stated to press agencies. "Both she and the organization has expressed regret or displayed repentance for the killings of hundreds of people."

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

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

"We assist numerous persons who suffered permanent amputations, they are amputees now, because of the suppression. They cannot pardon her."

A journalist, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it increasingly challenging" for her party to become a standard element of the nation's political landscape again.

This could alter if "an expression of regret occurs and a distancing from Sheikh Hasina and the previous administration," he said.