Ousted Bangladesh prime minister sentenced to death for crimes against humanity | ITV News

Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of crimes against humanity.

Her sentence follows the violent suppression of student protests, which ultimately toppled her government and forced her to flee to India last August, ending her 15-year reign.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty after the court heard that about 1,400 protesters were killed and up to 25,000 were injured during weeks of unrest in 2024.

A three-judge panel of the International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh’s domestic war crimes court, delivered the verdict on Monday.

The tribunal also sentenced former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan to death, while a retired police chief received a five-year sentence after he became a state witness against Hasina and pleaded guilty.

Hasina faced five charges, mainly accusing her of inciting the murder of protesters and ordering them to be hanged, as well as authorising the use of lethal weapons, drones and helicopters to suppress the unrest.

She denies all charges.

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The 78-year-old did not appear in court in Dhaka and remains in self-imposed exile.

Hasina’s Awami League party has called for a nationwide shutdown to protest the verdict.

Her lawyers have criticised the trial and last week appealed to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, citing “serious concerns” over due process and fair trial rights.

Hasina ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist from 2009 until she was ousted in 2024.

Monday’s sentencing has raised fears of fresh political turmoil ahead of national elections expected in February.

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