A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death after finding her guilty of crimes against humanity linked to the deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising that toppled her government in August 2024.
The 78-year-old former leader was tried in absentia after defying court orders to return from India to face charges.
The verdict, delivered before a packed courtroom and broadcast live nationwide, sparked cheers among some attendees.
Announcing the ruling, Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder said the prosecution had proven all elements of the charges brought against her, including incitement, ordering killings, and failure to prevent atrocities.
“We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence that is, sentence of death,” Justice Mozumder declared.
Former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, also tried in absentia, received a death sentence after being convicted on four similar counts.
Former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who was present in court and pleaded guilty, was handed a five-year jail term.
The judgment comes just months before Bangladesh’s next general election, expected in February 2026, amid heightened political tension following the end of Hasina’s autocratic 15-year rule.
The United Nations estimates that up to 1,400 people were killed during the crackdowns Hasina allegedly ordered while trying to cling to power. These killings formed the core evidence in the months-long trial.
Hasina previously dismissed the proceedings as a “jurisprudential joke,” accusing the interim government of weaponising the courts against her party, the banned Awami League.
She refused to recognise the court’s jurisdiction and was assigned a state-appointed lawyer.
In a written interview with AFP in October, Hasina said a guilty verdict was “preordained” and that she “would not be surprised when it comes.”
Security was tightened across Dhaka ahead of the ruling, with armoured vehicles deployed and nearly half of the city’s 34,000 police officers on duty.
The capital has witnessed a wave of crude bomb attacks in recent weeks targeting government buildings, public transport, and Christian sites.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry recently summoned India’s envoy, demanding that New Delhi restrict Hasina’s access to media while she remains in the country, describing her as a “notorious fugitive.”
Despite her exile and legal battles, Hasina remains combative.
She has warned that the ban on her Awami League is worsening the political crisis in the country of 170 million and risks further instability ahead of next year’s polls.