🔗 Share this article

Bangladesh's former prime minister has been handed capital punishment for human rights violations due to her severe measures on youth demonstrations which caused her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals lost their lives during the turmoil last year.

The trial proceeded 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 behind multiple fatalities during the protests. She has refuted every accusation, labeling the proceedings as "biased and politically motivated".

The verdict marks a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over years of repression. Next of kin of victims and wounded had demanded tough penalties.

Responding to the decision in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her government's record on civil liberties.

"I have no trepidation to face my accusers in a just legal forum where the evidence can be weighed and examined justly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under enhanced protection before the decision on Monday, with several of her detractors staging a rally and cheering as the sentence was declared.

The capital witnessed a sudden increase in turmoil, with dozens of bombs exploded and public transport vehicles burned in the period preceding the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, local police official Jisanul Haque informed media outlets.

The student-led uprising during 2024 began with requests to remove public sector reservation policies but evolved into a wider anti-government movement.

United Nations rights examiners said in a report in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could represent "violations of human dignity".

The paper detailed the firing at close quarters of certain demonstrators, the deliberate maiming of additional individuals, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Leaked audio of a telephone conversation involving Hasina confirmed by media examinations in previous months implied she had sanctioned the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the proceedings.

Ahead of the verdict, relatives of those who died in the demonstrations informed media representatives they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

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

A different family member, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "carried out before the election".

"Only then the families of those killed [in the protests] will achieve closure in their minds."

After her departure, an caretaker administration under the guidance of economic expert Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A general election is planned for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the her former political organization, Hasina's political party, was outlawed by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the her faction's nominees were prohibited from running in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the vote.

This decision presents a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. Dhaka has formally requested her repatriation but until now India has demonstrated no inclination to agree.

Her officially designated attorney Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "unhappy and desiring the decision had been otherwise".

"I am unable to challenge because my represented individuals are away; that's why I am disheartened," he added.

Recently, Hasina's lawyers said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN pointing out serious fair trial and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

Hasina was tried in conjunction with her ex-interior minister and security forces head.

Even though the verdict grants partial finality to kin of victims in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the country's political divisions.

"The resentment towards Hasina and the her political party has not decreased," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka told media outlets. "The leader and her faction has said sorry or shown any remorse for the deaths of numerous individuals."

The activist stated "This creates challenges for the party to be accepted by a bulk of the population in this nation."

The activist added that the sentence was not finality for the relatives of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

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

An analyst, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it particularly hard" for her party to become a standard element of Bangladeshi politics again.

This could alter if "there is some kind of apology and a disassociation with the former leader and the old leadership," he said.