Bangladeshi PM sentenced to death for student crackdown
A court in Bangladesh has sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death, concluding a months-long trial that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising.
Monday’s decision comes months ahead of parliamentary elections expected in early February. According to the law governing the court, the maximum penalty is the death penalty.
Hasina’s Awami League party has been banned from participating in the contest and it is feared the decision will spark fresh unrest ahead of the vote.
Bangladesh’s local war crimes court, the International Crimes Tribunal, located in the capital Dhaka, rendered a guilty verdict under tight security measures and in the absence of Hasina after she fled to India in August 2024.
The decision may be appealed in the Supreme Court, but Hasina’s son and advisor, Sajeeb Wazed, told Reuters on the eve of the verdict that they would not appeal unless a democratically elected government with the participation of the Awami League comes to power.
During the trial, prosecutors told the court they uncovered evidence that he gave direct orders to use lethal force to quell a student-led uprising in July and August 2024.
According to the United Nations report, nearly 1,400 people may have died and thousands more may have been injured (mostly as a result of fire opened by security forces) during the protests between July 15 and August 5, 2024. It was the worst incident of violence in Bangladesh since the war of independence in 1971.
Hasina was represented by a state-appointed defense lawyer, who told the court that the charges against her were false and requested her acquittal.
Ahead of the verdict, Hasina rejected the charges and the fairness of the court proceedings, arguing that the guilty verdict was a “inevitable outcome”.
Bangladesh has been on edge ahead of the decision, with at least 30 crude bombs exploding and 26 vehicles set on fire across the country in the last few days. However, there was no loss of life.
