Bangladesh’s military personnel stand guard across the Worldwide Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on November 13, 2025.
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A Bangladesh courtroom sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to demise on Monday, concluding a months-long trial that discovered her responsible of ordering a lethal crackdown on a student-led rebellion final 12 months.
The ruling is probably the most dramatic authorized motion towards a former Bangladeshi chief since independence in 1971 and comes months forward of parliamentary elections anticipated to be held in early February.
Hasina’s Awami League get together has been barred from contesting and it’s feared that Monday’s verdict might stoke contemporary unrest forward of the vote.
The Worldwide Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh’s home conflict crimes courtroom situated within the capital Dhaka, delivered the decision amid tight safety and in Hasina’s absence. She fled to India in August 2024 on the top of the rebellion towards her authorities.
Hasina, 78, bought a life sentence below prices for crimes towards humanity and the demise sentence for the killing of a number of folks throughout the rebellion.
Cheers and claps broke out within the packed courtroom because the demise sentence was pronounced.
The decision may be appealed within the Supreme Court docket. However Hasina’s son and adviser, Sajeeb Wazed, advised Reuters on the eve of the decision that they might not attraction until a democratically elected authorities took workplace with the Awami League’s participation.
Reacting to the decision, Hasina stated the ruling had come from a “rigged tribunal” established and presided over by an unelected authorities with no democratic mandate.
“They’re biased and politically motivated,” she stated in an e-mailed assertion despatched to media shops quickly after the decision.
“Of their distasteful name for the demise penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures throughout the interim authorities to take away Bangladesh’s final elected prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League as a political drive,” she stated.
Worst violence since 1971
Throughout the trial, prosecutors advised the courtroom that that they had uncovered proof of her direct command to make use of deadly drive to suppress a student-led rebellion in July and August 2024.
In accordance with a United Nations report, as much as 1,400 folks could have been killed throughout the protests between July 15 and August 5, 2024, with hundreds extra injured — most of them by gunfire from safety forces — in what was the worst violence in Bangladesh since its 1971 conflict of independence.
Hasina was represented by a state-appointed defence counsel who advised the courtroom that the fees towards her have been baseless and pleaded for her acquittal.
Forward of the decision, Hasina dismissed the accusations and the equity of the Tribunal proceedings, asserting a responsible verdict was “a foregone conclusion.” However the interim authorities rejected these prices.
“The tribunal has functioned transparently, permitting observers and publishing common documentation,” a authorities spokesperson advised Reuters hours earlier than the decision. “No credible human rights physique has described the present course of as politically pushed.”
Bangladesh has been tense forward of the decision, with not less than 30 crude bomb explosions and 26 automobiles torched throughout the nation over the previous few days. There have been no casualties, nonetheless.
The Muslim-majority South Asian nation of 170 million folks has been ruled by an interim administration headed by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus since Hasina fled. Though the nation has been largely peaceable since, political stability is but to return.
In an interview with Reuters final month, Hasina warned of rising anger amongst supporters of the Awami League and stated that thousands and thousands of get together loyalists would boycott the parliamentary elections in February.
On Monday, safety remained tight throughout Dhaka and different main cities, with paramilitary forces deployed round key authorities buildings and the tribunal complicated. Authorities stated they have been ready for any bother after the decision.