A Bangladesh war crimes court sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death on Monday, concluding a months-long trial that found the ex-leader guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year, Reuters reports.
The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh's domestic war crimes court located in the capital Dhaka, delivered the verdict amid tight security and in Hasina’s absence after she fled to India in August 2024, according to Reuters.
Hasina got a life sentence under charges for crimes against humanity and the death sentence for the killing of several people during the uprising. The verdict can be appealed in the Supreme Court, according to Reuters.
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 — in what was the worst violence in Bangladesh since its 1971 war of independence.
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.
Hasina, 78, who has remained in India since she was overthrown in August 2024, challenged the legitimacy of the Tribunal in an email interview with Reuters last month.
"These proceedings are a politically motivated charade," she said. "They have been brought by kangaroo courts, with guilty verdicts a foregone conclusion. They are presided over by an unelected government which consists of my political opponents."
She also said she was denied adequate notice of the hearings and any meaningful opportunity to mount a defence, adding that she was not personally involved in the use of lethal force or other alleged crimes.
