Bangladesh’s ousted PM Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death for student riots
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A Bangladesh military tribunal sentenced Prime Minister Sheikhi Sheina to death on Monday, ending a months-long trial that found him guilty of ordering the deadly bombings last year.
The decision is the most dramatic legal action against a former Bangladeshi leader in decades and comes months before parliamentary elections, expected to be held in early February.
Hasina’s Awami League Party has been banned from the race and it was feared that Monday’s decision would set off fresh unrest ahead of the vote.
The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh’s domestic military court located in the capital Dhaka, delivered a verdict amid tight security and the summons of Hasina, after she fled to India in August 2024.
Hasina, 78, received a life sentence under charges of crimes against humanity and the death penalty for killing several people during the uprising.
There was jubilation and jeopardy in the courtroom after the death sentence was handed down.
The decision can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Responding to the decision, Hasina said that the decision was already a ‘strong body’ which was established and administered by an insecure government without democratic authority.
“They are being politically marginalized as well,” said an emailed statement sent to media outlets shortly after the decision.
“In their unpopular belief in the death penalty, they reveal the intention of Brazsen and zomentsanusi within the interim government to remove the last Prime Minister of Bangladesh, and weaken the Awami League,” he said.
Worst violence since 1971
During the trial, the prosecutors told the court that they have killed evidence that his direct order to use lethal force to suppress the student riots in July and August 2024.
According to a United Nations report, it is possible that up to 1,400 people may have been killed during the protests between July 15 and Aug. 5, 2024, thousands were seriously injured – it is Bangladesh’s worst violence since its 1971 war of independence.
After a month of violent fighting, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country. Andrew Chang explains how the student-led protests over government job cuts turned into a massive and deadly movement that eventually brought down the government.
Hasina was represented by the government’s appointed defense counsel who told the court that the charges against her did not absorb her.
Before this decision, Hapina released the suspicions and proportionality of the actions of the Tribunal, asserting that the conviction was “a foregone conclusion.”
But the interim government has rejected those costs.
“The Tribunal acted transparently, allowing viewers and publication of standard documents,” a government spokesman told Reuters hours before the decision. “No Crutheble Human rights Adrienty has described the current process as politically driven.”
Bangladesh has been tense before the decision, with at least 30 suicide bombings and 26 car fires across the country in the past few days. There were no injuries, however.
Muslim country – The South Asian country of 170 million people is ruled by Intel Administrated led by Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad yunus since hasina fled. Although the country has been very peaceful since political stability is yet to return.
In an interview with Reuters last month, Hasina warned of growing anger among Awami League supporters and said millions of party members would be shut out of parliamentary elections in February.
Authorities said they were prepared for any trouble after the decision.
On Monday, security remained tight in Dhaka and other major cities, with various forces deployed at Central Government buildings and the Tribunal Complex.
Falling from dominance
The decision on Monday comes from the court that has first tried Hasina for war crimes since Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan.
Exiled to India after the 1975 coup in which its leader – freedom leader Shijibur Rahman – was killed, he returned in 1981.
He was subsequently elected the head of the Awami League, Bangladesh’s oldest political party in the freedom struggle.
Hasina first led the Awami League in Victory in 1996, serving for five years. He then regained power in 2009, and never lost again.
As time went on, critics said, his reign was marked by mass arrests of political opponents and activists, enforced disappearances and mass executions.
Rights groups have been warned of one-party rule by the Awami League. Hasina defended her tenure as an era of strength and development, arguing that the strong, unwavering leadership was needed to keep Bangladesh on track.
The economy that once ran has reduced significantly since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has exploded the prices of imported fuel and food, forcing Bangladesh to turn last year to the international financial fund of $ 47 billion searbout.
After Hasina escaped with her sister in a helicopter, the assembled crowds stormed the presidential residence, carrying furniture and televisions.
