A Bangladesh court on Monday handed down a death sentence to ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, concluding a months-long trial that found her responsible for ordering a violent crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.
The judgment comes just weeks before parliamentary elections expected in early February. With Hasina’s Awami League already disqualified from participating in the polls, there are growing concerns that the decision could trigger renewed political turmoil.
The International Crimes Tribunal — Bangladesh’s domestic war crimes court based in Dhaka — announced the conviction under heavy security measures. Hasina was tried in absentia, having fled to India in August 2024.
Under the law, she still has the right to challenge the ruling by filing an appeal before the Supreme Court.
But Hasina’s son and adviser, Sajeeb Wazed, told Reuters on the eve of the verdict that they would not appeal unless a democratically elected government took office with the Awami League’s participation.
During the trial, prosecutors told the court that they had uncovered evidence of her direct command to use lethal force to suppress a student-led uprising in July and August 2024.
According to a United Nations report, up to 1,400 people may have been killed during the protests between July 15 and August 5, 2024, with thousands more injured — most of them by gunfire from security forces.
Hasina was represented by a state-appointed defence counsel who told the court that the charges against her were baseless and pleaded for her acquittal.
Ahead of the verdict, Hasina dismissed the accusations and the fairness of the Tribunal proceedings, asserting a guilty verdict was “a foregone conclusion”.
Bangladesh has been tense ahead of the verdict, with at least 30 crude bomb explosions and 26 vehicles torched across the country over the past few days. There have been no casualties, however.
Source: Dunya News