Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Gets Death Sentence for ‘Crimes against Humanity’

Dhaka: Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is in exile, to death for crimes against humanity, after finding her guilty of ordering a violent crackdown on student-led protests last year.

"Hasina was found guilty on three counts, including incitement, order to kill, and inaction to prevent the atrocities," judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder said, delivering the judgment. "All the elements constituting crimes against humanity have been fulfilled. We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence – that is, sentence of death," the judge added.

Hasina, 78, who had fled to India in August 2024, defied the court orders demanding her to return to attend her trial.

Reacting to the verdict in a statement issued from India, Hasina called the verdict ‘biased and politically motivated’. “The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate. They are biased and politically motivated,” she said.

Terming verdict ‘a foregone conclusion,’ Hasina said, “I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where evidence can be weighed and tested fairly.”

Along with the former Prime Minister, the court has also awarded death sentence to former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who is also a fugitive after being found guilty on four counts of crimes against humanity. Former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who had pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns last year, resulting in the months-long trial and the verdict.

(With inputs from AFP)

Photo: AFP