Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister, has been sentenced to death after being convicted of crimes against humanity.
It follows a months-long trial in the country that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.
The former leader, exiled in India, was tried in absentia after the United Nations said up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the violence.
Bangladesh’s health adviser under the interim government said more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured.
The prosecution had been seeking the death penalty for Hasina, who fled to India in August 2024 at the end of 15 years of rule.
The former leader is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the country to independence.
The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh’s domestic war crimes court located in the capital Dhaka, delivered the guilty verdict amid tight security.
The verdict can be appealed in the Supreme Court.
Paramilitary border guards and police have been deployed in Dhaka and many other parts of the country.
It comes after Hasina’s Awami League party called for a nationwide shutdown as part of a protest against the verdict.
The country has also been tense ahead of Monday’s verdict, with at least 30 crude bomb explosions and 26 vehicles torched across Bangladesh over the past few days.
- Agencies
