A special tribunal on Monday sentenced Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, to death on charges of crimes against humanity linked to last year’s mass uprising that killed hundreds and ended her 15-year rule.
The tribunal also handed a death sentence to former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, while a third defendant, a former police chief who turned state witness, received a five-year prison term after pleading guilty.
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The verdict, delivered in the capital Dhaka, was broadcast live.
Ahead of the ruling, the interim government tightened security nationwide, deploying paramilitary border guards and police in Dhaka and several other regions.
Hasina’s Awami League party has announced a nationwide shutdown in protest.
Hasina and Khan, currently in exile in India, were tried in absentia. Both the former prime minister and her party have dismissed the tribunal as a “kangaroo court,” criticising the state-appointed lawyer assigned to represent her.
The charges stem from the July–August 2024 student-led uprising that left hundreds dead.
A United Nations report in February estimated the death toll at up to 1,400, while an interim government health adviser placed it at more than 800, with about 14,000 injured.
Last week, the tribunal fixed Monday for the verdict following fresh outbreaks of violence, including crude bomb explosions and arson attacks that disrupted classes and transportation after the Awami League declared a “lockdown.”
Ahead of the judgment, the Awami League renewed the shutdown call, with Hasina urging supporters in an audio message not to be “nervous” about the outcome.