Bangladesh Court Sentences Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Death for Crimes Against Humanity

Bangladesh Court Sentences Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Death for Crimes Against Humanity

A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death after finding her guilty of crimes against humanity linked to the brutal crackdown on the student-led uprising that toppled her government in August 2024.

The verdict, delivered by Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder and broadcast live nationwide, sparked loud cheers inside the courtroom. Hasina, 78, was tried in absentia after refusing to return from India, where she has remained since her removal from office. She was convicted on three counts: incitement, ordering killings, and failing to prevent mass atrocities.

“All elements of the crimes against humanity have been established,” the judge said. “We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence — that is, the sentence of death.”

Former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, also tried in absentia, received the same sentence after being found guilty on four counts. Former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who appeared in court and entered a guilty plea, was sentenced to five years in prison.

The ruling comes just months before Bangladesh’s first national election since Hasina’s ouster, scheduled for February 2026, amid deepening political tension. According to the United Nations, as many as 1,400 people were killed in the government crackdown during Hasina’s final months in power — allegations that formed the backbone of the prosecution’s case.

Chief prosecutor Tajul Islam, speaking ahead of the judgment, said he hoped the ruling would satisfy the public’s “thirst for justice” and help end the cycle of political violence.

The trial spanned months of testimony accusing Hasina of directly authorising mass killings to suppress the uprising. She dismissed the proceedings as a “jurisprudential joke” and said in an October interview with AFP that the verdict was “preordained.”

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Security was extraordinarily tight around the Dhaka court, with armoured vehicles deployed and nearly half of the city’s 34,000 police officers on duty amid fears of unrest. In recent weeks, officials have grappled with a series of crude bomb attacks targeting government institutions, public buses, and Christian sites.

Bangladesh’s foreign ministry also summoned India’s envoy, accusing New Delhi of offering Hasina — described by authorities as a “notorious fugitive” — a platform from which to attack the interim government.

From exile, Hasina has remained defiant. She has insisted she “mourned all the lives lost” during the 2024 uprising, though critics accuse her of being responsible for the bloodshed. She has also warned that the interim government’s ban on her Awami League party is deepening the country’s political crisis.

Bangladesh Court Sentences Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Death for Crimes Against Humanity