🔗 Share this article

The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been handed capital punishment for human rights violations due to her severe measures on student-led protests which led to her removal from power.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, among whom around 1,400 people lost their lives during the unrest in the previous year.

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

Legal authorities charged her of being the mastermind of numerous deaths during the protests. She has refuted all charges, labeling the proceedings as "biased and politically motivated".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over extended periods of oppression. Families of those killed and harmed had demanded strict sentences.

Responding to the decision in a detailed document, she expressed the capital punishment was the caretaker administration's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her government's record on individual freedoms.

"I do not fear to meet my challengers in a just legal forum where the facts can be assessed and examined justly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under tightened security prior to the decision on Monday, with several of her detractors staging a rally and celebrating as the sentence was declared.

Dhaka experienced a notable rise in turmoil, with numerous incendiary devices set off and coaches ignited in the days leading up to the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, regional security representative the authorities' representative stated to media outlets.

The student-led uprising in the previous year commenced through calls to eliminate state employment quotas but transformed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

UN human rights investigators declared in an analysis in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could represent "violations of human dignity".

The study recorded the firing at close quarters of a number of activists, the deliberate maiming of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and mistreatment.

Disclosed sound files of a call made by the former leader confirmed by external reviews in previous months indicated she had approved the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the legal process.

Ahead of the verdict, kin of those fatally injured in the unrest stated to media representatives they wanted the former leader to face strict penalties.

One relative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for her and co-accused who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose spouse died 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 hearts."

Since Hasina's ousting, an interim government headed by economist Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A parliamentary election is set for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the Awami League, Hasina's political party, was outlawed by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

Hasina warned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were barred from participating in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the vote.

The verdict now poses a diplomatic challenge for both nations. Dhaka has formally requested her extradition but until now India has demonstrated no inclination to comply.

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 clients are absent; which is why I am disappointed," he stated further.

The previous week, the defense attorneys said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN pointing out serious fair trial and due process issues at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial together with her previous domestic affairs official and police chief.

Although the punishment grants partial finality to kin of victims in the protests, it may not significantly ease the nation's partisan rifts.

"The anger against the former leader and the her political party has not decreased," a human rights advocate from the capital told media outlets. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or demonstrated contrition for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "This complicates matters for the organization to receive endorsement by a most citizens in this country."

The advocate continued that the sentence was not finality for the families of those killed and injured.

"We work with several people who suffered permanent amputations, they are currently without limbs, because of the suppression. They cannot pardon her."

A journalist, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it even more difficult" for her party to become a standard element of the country's governance system again.

This may change if "an expression of regret occurs and a distancing from Hasina and the previous administration," he stated.