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A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced the ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to death by hanging for crimes against humanity, prompting cheers from the packed courtroom as the judge read the verdict.
Hasina, 78, ignored court orders requiring her return from India to face trial regarding allegations that she authorised a violent crackdown during a student-led uprising last year, which ultimately led to her ousting.
The much-anticipated decision, which was broadcast live on national television, comes less than three months before the first elections following her removal in August 2024. The former leader was convicted on three charges: incitement to kill, ordering killings, and failing to halt the atrocities, according to the judge.
In the streets of Dhaka, people celebrated, waving the national flag in joy.
Former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was also sentenced to death in absentia after being convicted on four charges of crimes against humanity.
Ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who was present in the courtroom and had admitted to guilt, received a five-year prison sentence. Hasina, who was assigned a government-appointed attorney for her trial, denounced the verdict as “biased and politically motivated” in a statement released from her hiding place in India.
“It’s a guilty verdict against me was a foregone conclusion,” Hasina said.
Her defence attorney, Md Amir Hossain, whom she did not acknowledge, said Hasina could appeal only if she “surrenders or is arrested.”
Shamsi Ara Zaman, mother of photojournalist Tahir Zaman Priyo, who was killed during the protests last year, expressed her satisfaction with the death sentences but disappointment that the ex-police chief received only a five-year sentence.
Since the end of Hasina’s autocratic rule, Bangladesh has been engulfed in political instability, with violence disrupting campaigning ahead of elections scheduled for February 2026.
According to the United Nations, as many as 1,400 individuals were killed in crackdowns as Hasina sought to maintain her grip on power, and these deaths were pivotal to her trial.
Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman commended the trial, which included months of testimonies revealing how Hasina ordered mass killings.
The court was heavily secured ahead of the verdict, with armoured vehicles stationed at checkpoints and thousands of police officers deployed across the capital.
This month, crude bombs have exploded throughout Dhaka, primarily petrol bombs targeting sites linked to interim leader Muhammad Yunus’s government and various buses and Christian locations.
