A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity, drawing cheers from a packed courtroom as the verdict was announced. Hasina, 78, had defied court orders to return from India to attend her trial, which centered on whether she ordered a violent crackdown on a student-led uprising that led to her ouster in August 2024. The ruling, broadcast live on national television, comes ahead of Bangladesh’s first elections since her removal, scheduled for February 2026. Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder stated that “all the… elements constituting crimes against humanity have been fulfilled,” finding Hasina guilty on three counts: incitement, ordering killings, and failing to prevent atrocities. “We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence — that is, a sentence of death,” he said. Former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, also a fugitive, was sentenced to death on four counts of crimes against humanity, while former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who pleaded guilty, received a five-year prison term. Bangladesh has experienced significant political unrest since the end of Hasina’s rule, with violence disrupting campaigning for the upcoming elections. According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns during her final days in office, a key focus of the trial. Chief prosecutor Tajul Islam said he hoped the verdict would satisfy the public’s “thirst for justice” and mark an end to crimes against humanity. Prosecutors had filed five charges, including failure to prevent murder. The trial, conducted largely in absentia, featured months of testimony alleging that Hasina ordered mass killings. She dismissed the proceedings as a “jurisprudential joke,” refused to recognize the court, and rejected her state-appointed lawyer. In an October interview with AFP, she said a guilty verdict was “preordained” and she would “not be surprised when it comes.” Security was heightened in Dhaka ahead of the verdict, with armored vehicles and checkpoints across the capital. Nearly half of the city’s 34,000 police officers were deployed following a month of petrol bomb attacks on government buildings, buses, and religious sites. Bangladesh’s foreign ministry also summoned India’s envoy, demanding that New Delhi prevent Hasina from speaking to journalists or using media platforms to “spread hatred.” Despite the sentence, Hasina remains defiant. She expressed mourning for the lives lost during the crackdown but criticized the interim government’s ban on her party, the Awami League, warning that it is deepening the country’s political crisis ahead of elections in the 170-million-strong nation.
