Bangladesh

A special court has sentenced to death ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, accused of crimes against humanity related to last year’s mass uprising that killed hundreds of people and ended her 15-year rule.

The court also sentenced former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan to death in the case, while a third suspect, a former police chief, was sentenced to five years in prison for becoming a state witness against Hasina and pleading guilty.

Hasina and Khan faced charges of crimes against humanity for the murder of hundreds of people during a student-led uprising in July and August 2024. In a February report, the United Nations said up to 1,400 people may have died in the violence, while the country’s health adviser under the interim government said more than 800 people were killed and around 14,000 injured.

The deliberation of the verdict by the court in the capital, Dhaka, was broadcast live on Monday.

The interim government beefed up security ahead of the verdict, with paramilitary border guards and police deployed in Dhaka and many other parts of the country. British broadcaster BBC News, a News themezone partner, said security forces had fired tear gas amid unrest following the announcement of the sentence on the streets of Dhaka on Monday.

Hasina’s Awami League party has called for a nationwide shutdown in protest of the verdict. Hasina and Khan, who has been exiled in Indiawere tried in absentia.

Both Hasina and her party have called the court a “kangaroo court” and denounced the state’s appointment of a lawyer to represent her.

Last week, the court had set Monday to deliver the verdict, as reports of crude bomb explosions and arson led to the disruption of classes and transportation across the country following a “lockdown” requested by Hasina’s party.

Ahead of Monday’s court ruling, the former ruling party again called for a shutdown, with Hasina urging her followers in an audio message not to be “nervous” about the verdict.

The verdict came after local media reported fresh crude bomb explosions in Dhaka, including one outside the home of an adviser, equivalent to a cabinet minister, on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Dhaka Police Chief Sheikh Mohammad Sazzat Ali issued a “shoot on sight” order if anyone tries to set vehicles on fire or throw crude bombs. The directive came after nearly 50 arson attacks, mostly targeting vehicles, and dozens of crude bomb explosions were reported across the country last week. Two people died in the arson attacks, local media reported.

The Supreme Court authorities, in a letter addressed to the army headquarters on Sunday, requested the deployment of soldiers around the court premises ahead of the verdict.

Hasina was overthrown on August 5 last year and fled to India. Bangladesh’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as head of an interim government three days after his fall. Yunus vowed to punish Hasina and banned the activities of her Awami League party.

Yunus said that his interim government would hold the next elections in February and that Hasina’s party would not have the opportunity to participate in the elections.

Shireen Huq, a Dhaka-based human rights activist who works with people injured during the unrest, told the BBC on Monday that the “harsh punishment” for Hasina would offer little comfort to the families of those killed and maimed during last summer’s crackdown on protesters.

“They will never be able to forgive her,” he told the BBC, adding that many people’s anger against Hasina’s political party had also “not abated.”

“Neither she nor the party have apologized or shown any remorse for the murders of hundreds of people,” Huq said. “It makes it difficult for the party to be accepted by the majority of people in this country.”