Bangladesh Tribunal Sentences Ousted Leader Sheikh Hasina to Death

A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Monday sentenced the country’s ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to death on charges of crimes against humanity over the deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year, CBS News, CNBC, NPR and Al Jazeera reported.

The International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka delivered the verdict in the absence of Ms. Hasina, 78, who fled to India in August 2024 after 15 years in power, according to the outlets. CBS News, NPR and Al Jazeera said her former home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, was also sentenced to death, while a third defendant, a former police chief who became a state witness and pleaded guilty, received five years in prison.

The uprising in July and August 2024 was a student-led revolt that ended with Ms. Hasina’s fall. A United Nations report found that up to 1,400 people may have been killed, CBS News, CNBC and NPR reported. NPR said Ms. Hasina was found guilty, among other charges, of ordering the use of lethal force by her security services, and CNBC reported that prosecutors told the court they had evidence of her direct command to use lethal force.

The verdict can be appealed to the Supreme Court, CNBC and Al Jazeera reported. National elections are expected in February, with the Awami League barred from contesting them, according to CNBC and Al Jazeera, which reported that the interim government revoked the party’s registration in May.

Ms. Hasina rejected the ruling. In a statement she called it the product of a “rigged tribunal” run by an unelected government, saying that it was “biased and politically motivated,” CNBC and NPR reported. She and her party had earlier called the tribunal a “kangaroo court,” CBS News and Al Jazeera said. NPR quoted the chief prosecutor, Mohammad Tajul Islam, as saying the trial was fair and that the tribunal met international standards, and noted that Human Rights Watch had long questioned whether the court meets international standards.

The country was tense ahead of the verdict. CBS News and NPR reported that the interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, deployed paramilitary border guards and police in Dhaka and other areas. CBS News said the Awami League called a nationwide shutdown after the sentencing. NPR quoted a University of London professor, Naomi Hossain, saying the process looked “more like political revenge” than accountability.