🔗 Share this article

The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been given a death sentence for human rights violations due to her harsh response on protests led by students which led to her forced departure.

Hasina was declared culpable of permitting fatal actions to be used against activists, 1,400 of whom were killed during the unrest in the previous year.

The trial proceeded without her presence 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 behind hundreds of killings during the protests. The former leader rejected all charges, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

The verdict marks a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over extended periods of oppression. Relatives of the deceased and harmed had requested severe punishments.

Responding to the decision in a detailed document, Hasina said the death penalty was the temporary leadership's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a governing body and that she was content of her leadership's history on human rights.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a just legal forum where the evidence can be weighed and examined justly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under increased safeguards ahead of the ruling on Monday, with several of her detractors holding a protest and cheering as the sentence was declared.

Dhaka experienced a sudden increase in turmoil, with multiple explosives detonated and public transport vehicles burned in the period preceding the verdict.

One explosive incident was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, area law enforcement officer the police spokesperson informed media outlets.

The protest movement led by students during 2024 commenced through calls to eliminate government job quotas but transformed into a wider anti-government movement.

UN human rights investigators declared in an analysis in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could amount to "crimes against humanity".

The paper detailed the gunfire from minimal distance of some protesters, the intentional injuring of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and mistreatment.

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

Prior to the ruling, relatives of those who died in the demonstrations told press outlets they wanted the former leader to face strict penalties.

A family representative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and exploited their positions".

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".

"Solely at that point the families of those killed [in the protests] will find peace in their hearts."

Since Hasina's ousting, an temporary leadership led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A general election is planned for February 2026.

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

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were barred from participating in the imminent electoral process, countless would abstain the ballot.

The judgment creates a diplomatic challenge for India and Bangladesh. Authorities have sought her return but so far India has expressed no readiness to agree.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer her legal counsel said he was "unhappy and desiring the outcome had varied".

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; for that reason I am sad," he continued.

Recently, Hasina's lawyers said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN raising serious fair trial and due process issues at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina in conjunction with her former home minister and top law enforcement officer.

Although the punishment grants partial finality to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may not significantly ease the state's ideological splits.

"The resentment towards Hasina and the her political party has not diminished," a Dhaka-based rights activist stated to news organizations. "Neither she nor the party has said sorry or shown any remorse for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "This creates challenges for the organization to receive endorsement by a majority of people in this nation."

The campaigner further stated that the sentence was not finality for the relatives of those killed and injured.

"We support several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, because of the suppression. They will never be able to forgive her."

A journalist, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for her party to become a normal feature of the country's governance system again.

This could alter if "a form of contrition emerges and a disassociation with Hasina and the old leadership," he stated.