Dhaka, Nov 17 (UNI) The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh’s domestic war crimes court, has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death over a crackdown on anti-government protests last year, calling it “crimes against humanity”:.
Hasina, convicted of “various crimes against humanity”, was tried in absentia and remains in exile in India.
A three-judge panel ruled that Hasina “incited hundreds of extrajudicial killings carried out by law enforcement during weeks of unrest” in 2024.
According to the court, approximately 1,400 protestors were killed and up to 25,000 injured.
The former leader faced five charges, including inciting murder, ordering hangings, and authorizing the use of lethal weapons, drones, and helicopters to suppress the protests. She has, in several interviews to international media, denied all charges and pointed out that the bullets used to kill protesters were of a calibre different from that used by the Bangladesh police. Several analysts have indicated that the shots may have been fired by snippers.
Hasina’s legal team has appealed to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions, citing “serious concerns about the lack of fair trial rights and due process.”
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is set to hold national elections in February next year from which the Awami League is likely to be excluded.
The case pertains to alleged crimes committed during the July 2024 mass uprising, which triggered widespread violence and preceded the fall of the Awami League government.
Along with Sheikh Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun were charged; Al-Mamun later turned approver. Trial proceedings concluded on October 23.
The July 2024 student-led uprising, sparked by economic hardship, corruption, and a job crisis, led to the toppling of Sheikh Hasina’s government. On August 5, she fled to India, and the Yunus-led interim government assumed control.
The ICT, originally established by Hasina’s government to prosecute war crimes from the 1971 Liberation War, has previously tried numerous Jamaat-e-Islami leaders.
