Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death by a special tribunal for crimes against humanity. The charges stem from a deadly crackdown on student protests last year, which ultimately led to the end of her 15-year tenure.
Reports indicate that the violence resulted in as many as 1,400 fatalities, as lethal force was employed against demonstrators.
Hasina is currently in exile in India, along with former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, who also received a death sentence on Monday for his involvement in the events of the previous year. Bangladesh’s requests for India to extradite Hasina and Khan to face trial have gone unanswered.
According to BBC Bangla, the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka, Bangladesh, stated in its verdict that “Sheikh Hasina was the mastermind, the planner, order-giver, and superior commander or highest order-giver, of all crimes against humanity committed during the July uprising.” The verdict was delivered in Bangladesh.
Hasina has denounced the court’s decision.
In a statement released via the Associated Press, she stated, “We lost control of the situation, but to characterize what happened as a premeditated assault on citizens is simply to misread the facts.”
Hasina’s Awami League party has called for a nationwide shutdown to protest the verdict.
The 2024 protests were triggered by the government’s reinstatement of quotas reserving 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans from the country’s war of independence. The government’s response to the protests, and the subsequent loss of life, have drawn widespread criticism.
The U.N. Human Rights Chief stated in February that “The brutal response was a calculated and well-coordinated strategy by the former Government to hold onto power in the face of mass opposition.”
Türk asserted that there were reasonable grounds to believe that “hundreds of extrajudicial killings, extensive arbitrary arrests and detentions, and torture, were carried out with the knowledge, coordination and direction of the political leadership.”
Bangladesh is currently governed by an interim body led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who assumed power days after Hasina’s fall in August 2024.
In response to the verdict, the interim government has called for order as unrest has erupted in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, particularly around the home-turned-museum of Hasina’s father. Police have been deployed to restore order. Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh.
The interim government stated, “Realizing the profound significance of this verdict, the interim government calls on people from all walks of life to remain calm, restrained, and responsible.”
The death sentence can be appealed in the Supreme Court. However, Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed, indicated prior to the verdict that they would not appeal unless a democratically elected government took office with the Awami League’s participation.
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