Bangladesh sentences ex-PM Sheikh Hasina to death for deadly crackdown on student uprising
Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.
A special court found he was responsible for ordering a violent crackdown on student-led protests last year; During these protests, the UN estimates that as many as 1,400 people died, most of them by gunfire from security forces.
Hasina was tried in absentia because she was living in exile in India, where she was removed from power.
A three-judge panel of the country’s international crimes court convicted Hasina of crimes including murder, extermination, torture and other inhumane acts.
Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder, who read the decision to the court, said that ‘the defendant prime minister committed a crime against humanity by ordering the use of drones, helicopters and lethal weapons’.
Hasina denied the accusations and claimed that the trial was a ‘politically motivated charade’.
Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death.
Security was stepped up across Bangladesh on Monday morning amid fears of protests, as family members of those killed during the 2024 uprising burst into tears in a Dhaka courtroom.
One of the defendants at the hearing, former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan, was also given the death penalty.
Hasina, who did not physically attend the hearing, remained defiant in a voicemail recorded before the verdict.
‘Let them announce whatever decision they want. It doesn’t matter to me. God gave me this life and only He can end it. “I will continue to serve my people,” he said.
This is breaking news. More to follow.
