Highlights
- Bangladesh war crimes court sentences Sheikh Hasina to death in absentia
- Verdict delivered months before parliamentary elections
- UN report says up to 1,400 people may have been killed in 2024 protests
- Awami League barred from contesting upcoming elections
A BANGLADESH war crimes court on Monday sentenced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death after finding her guilty of ordering a crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.
The ruling, delivered months before parliamentary elections expected in early February, is the most significant legal action against a former leader in decades.
Hasina's Awami League has been barred from contesting, raising concerns that the verdict could trigger unrest ahead of the vote.
The International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka announced the verdict under heavy security and in Hasina’s absence. She fled to India in August 2024. She received a life sentence for crimes against humanity and the death sentence for the killing of several people during the uprising.
There was cheering and clapping in the courtroom after the sentence was announced. The verdict can be appealed in the Supreme Court.
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.
Worst violence since 1971
Prosecutors told the Tribunal that they found evidence of Hasina’s direct order to use lethal force to suppress student protests in July and August 2024.
A United Nations report said up to 1,400 people may have been killed between July 15 and August 5, 2024, with thousands injured — most of them by gunfire from security forces — in what it described as the worst violence since Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war.
Hasina was represented by a state-appointed lawyer who called the charges baseless and sought her acquittal.
Before the verdict, Hasina rejected the allegations and questioned the fairness of the Tribunal, saying a guilty verdict was "a foregone conclusion."
Bangladesh has been on alert ahead of the ruling, with at least 30 crude bomb blasts and 26 vehicles burned in recent days. There have been no casualties.
"Politically motivated"
Hasina, 78, who has stayed in India since she was ousted, also questioned the Tribunal’s legitimacy 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 said she did not receive adequate notice of the hearings and had no meaningful chance to mount a defence, adding that she was not involved in lethal force or other alleged crimes.
Bangladesh has been governed by an interim administration led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus since Hasina fled. The country has been mostly calm, but political stability has not fully returned.
Hasina told Reuters that anger among Awami League supporters was rising and that millions of loyalists would boycott the February elections.
Security remained tight across Dhaka and other major cities on Monday, with paramilitary forces stationed around key government sites and the tribunal complex. Authorities said they were prepared for any trouble after the verdict.
(With inputs from agencies)
