Bangladesh's Deposed Leader Sheikh Hasina Wajed Given to Death

The country's previous leader has been sentenced to death for human rights violations stemming from her severe measures on student-led protests which caused her forced departure.

Hasina was declared culpable of permitting fatal actions to be used against demonstrators, 1,400 of whom were killed during the unrest last year.

The trial proceeded without her presence by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being the mastermind of multiple fatalities during the protests. She has refuted every accusation, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

The verdict marks a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over extended periods of oppression. Relatives of the deceased and wounded had called for strict sentences.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, the former leader stated the capital punishment was the temporary leadership's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her government's record on human rights.

"I do not fear to face my accusers in a fair court where the evidence can be weighed and reviewed impartially."

The capital, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under enhanced protection before the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics organizing a demonstration and cheering as the sentence was declared.

Dhaka experienced a recent spike in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and buses set on fire in the time before the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, area law enforcement officer Jisanul Haque stated to press agencies.

The protest movement led by students in the previous year commenced through requests to remove public sector reservation policies but evolved into a more extensive dissent initiative.

International human rights monitors declared in an analysis in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could represent "crimes against humanity".

The paper detailed the shooting at point-blank range of some protesters, the purposeful disabling of others, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Leaked audio of one of Hasina's phone calls authenticated by external reviews in previous months implied she had sanctioned the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the trial.

Before the decision, family members of those who died in the demonstrations told press outlets they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "executed before the election".

"Only then the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will find peace in their minds."

After her departure, an temporary leadership led by economist Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A general election is planned for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the Hasina's political party, her political faction, was banned by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

She alerted during the past month that if the the League's representatives were prohibited from running in the imminent electoral process, countless would abstain the vote.

This decision presents a international dilemma for the neighboring countries. The Bangladesh government has asked her repatriation but so far India has expressed no readiness to comply.

Her officially designated attorney her legal counsel said he was "sad [and wishes] the decision had been otherwise".

"I cannot even contest because my clients are absent; which is why I am disappointed," he added.

Recently, the defense attorneys said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN pointing out significant due process and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina in conjunction with her former home minister and security forces head.

While the sentence provides certain resolution to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may not significantly ease the state's ideological splits.

"The anger against Hasina and the her political party has not diminished," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka informed media outlets. "Both she and the organization has expressed regret or shown any remorse for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "It makes it difficult for the organization to receive endorsement by a bulk of the population in this state."

The campaigner further stated that the sentence was not finality for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We work with several people who lost their limbs forever, they are currently without limbs, because of the suppression. They are incapable of excusing her."

A journalist, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it increasingly challenging" for the political faction to become a standard element of Bangladeshi politics again.

This might transform if "an expression of regret occurs and a disassociation with Sheikh Hasina and the former hierarchy," he said.