A special tribunal sentenced Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death on charges of crimes against humanity for her crackdown on a student uprising last year that killed hundreds of people and led to the toppling of her 15-year rule.
The Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal also sentenced former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan to death for his involvement in the use of deadly force against protesters.
Both Hasina and Khan fled to India last year and were sentenced in absentia.
A third suspect, a former police chief, was sentenced to five years in prison after becoming a state witness against Hasina and pleading guilty.
Hasina and Khan were accused of crimes against humanity over the killing of hundreds of people during a student-led uprising in July and August of 2024. The country’s health adviser under the country’s current interim government said more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured. However, the United Nations in a February report said up to 1,400 may have been killed.
Hasina says the charges are unjustified, arguing that she and Khan “acted in good faith and were trying to minimize the loss of life.”
“We lost control of the situation, but to characterize what happened as a premeditated assault on citizens is simply to misread the facts,” she said Monday.
The verdict comes as the country still grapples with instability after Hasina was ousted on Aug. 5, 2024. Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of an interim government three days after her fall. Yunus has vowed to punish Hasina and banned the activities of her Awami League party.
A three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, announced the tribunal's ruling in the capital, Dhaka. Tensions in the country were high and the tribunal was broadcast live.
Some of those in the packed courtroom cheered when Mazumder announced the death penalty for Hasina. He admonished them, telling them to express their feelings outside the courtroom.
Many families of the killed and the injured during last year's uprising gathered outside the tribunal premises, where they had waited hours to hear the verdict.
It appeared unlikely that Hasina would return to Bangladesh to face her sentence. India had not responded to requests by Bangladesh to extradite her to face the trial.
Hasina can’t also appeal.
The interim government beefed up security ahead of the verdict, with paramilitary border guards and police deployed in Dhaka and many other parts of the country.
Hasina’s Awami League party called for a nationwide shutdown to protest the verdict on Monday.
Hasina denounced Monday’s ruling, calling it “biased and politically motivated” in a statement. She also denounced the tribunal as “rigged” and alleged that it was “established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate.”
“In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove Bangladesh’s last elected prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League as a political force,” she said.
Hasina cannot appeal the verdict unless she surrenders or is arrested within 30 days of the judgment.
Tensions and disruptions grew in the country in the days leading up to the expected verdict.
Nearly 50 arson attacks, mostly targeting vehicles, and dozens of crude bombs explosions were reported nationwide over the past week. Two people were killed in the arson attacks, local media reported.
Authorities at the Supreme Court, in a letter to army headquarters on Sunday, requested the deployment of soldiers around the tribunal premises ahead of the verdict.
Yunus said his interim government would hold the country's next elections in February, and that Hasina’s party would not get a chance to contest the race.
Bangladesh's politics under Yunus has remained at a crossroads with limited signs of stability.
