Bangladesh Tribunal Sentences Ousted PM Sheikh Hasina to Death for Crimes Against Humanity
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death in absentia after finding her guilty of crimes against humanity for ordering a deadly crackdown on the student-led uprising in 2024. The landmark verdict, which also convicted her former Home Minister, was delivered amid severe security measures in Dhaka and comes months ahead of national elections, with Hasina condemning the ruling as a politically motivated “charade.”
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka on Monday sentenced the country’s former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, to death after convicting her of crimes against humanity linked to the violent suppression of a massive student-led uprising in the summer of 2024. The three-judge bench, led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, found the ousted leader guilty on multiple counts, including incitement, failure to prevent atrocities, and ordering the use of lethal force, drones, and helicopters against unarmed civilian protesters. The historic verdict, delivered in Hasina’s absence as she remains in exile in India, also sentenced her former Home Minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, to death. Hasina, who was forced from power in August 2024 after a fifteen-year tenure, has fiercely denounced the tribunal, labeling it a “rigged” judicial mockery orchestrated by the current unelected interim government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Prosecutors built their case around evidence, including forensic-verified audio recordings, which allegedly demonstrated direct instructions from the Prime Minister’s office to carry out the deadly street operations that saw an estimated 1,400 people killed during the period of unrest. The tribunal was highly critical of Hasina’s actions, observing that she had actively ordered the killing of students and utilized state resources to violently suppress dissent, characterizing her as the “mastermind” behind the atrocities. Meanwhile, the former police chief, Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, a co-accused in the trial, received a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty and becoming a state witness against the former Prime Minister and her Home Minister.
The verdict arrived following months of highly tense legal proceedings and widespread political disruption in the capital, with security forces, including army units and Border Guard Bangladesh personnel, placed on high alert across Dhaka to prevent unrest. Hasina’s political party, the now-disbanded Awami League, immediately called for a nationwide shutdown to protest the ruling, which they claim is a political vendetta designed to eliminate the party as a force ahead of the national elections scheduled for early 2026. The former Prime Minister, who has survived numerous assassination attempts over her decades-long political career, currently faces little immediate threat of execution, as the Indian government has reportedly ignored requests from Dhaka to extradite her to face the sentence.
