A Bangladesh court has sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death for ordering a deadly crackdown on student-led protests last year. The verdict, delivered on Monday by the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka, was issued in absentia after Hasina fled to India in August 2024.
Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder told the packed courtroom that “all the… elements constituting crimes against humanity have been fulfilled.” The ruling, broadcast live on national television, comes ahead of Bangladesh’s first elections since Hasina’s removal.
Hasina condemned the verdict as “biased and politically motivated”, insisting she would only face her accusers in a proper tribunal where evidence could be tested fairly. Her son and adviser, Sajeeb Wazed, said the family would not appeal unless a democratically elected government allowed her Awami League party to participate. The party has been barred from contesting the upcoming February elections, raising fears of unrest.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Hasina directly commanded security forces to use lethal force during protests in July and August 2024, which the United Nations reported killed up to 1,400 people and injured thousands more—the worst violence in Bangladesh since the 1971 war of independence.
Hasina was represented by a state-appointed defence counsel, who called the charges baseless and pleaded for her acquittal. Ahead of the verdict, Hasina criticized the tribunal’s fairness, saying a guilty verdict was “a foregone conclusion.” In the days leading up to the ruling, Bangladesh experienced at least 30 crude bombings and 26 vehicles were torched, though no casualties were reported.
