Dhakka: A Bangladesh war crimes court sentenced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid to death on Monday, concluding a months-long trial that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.
The verdict was delivered by Bangladesh's special International Crimes Tribunal. The decision was broadcast live on television channels across the country so that the public could remain informed about the court proceedings.
Sheikh Hasina, who is 78 years old, has been facing an in-absentia trial on charges of crimes against humanity, related to last year's harsh crackdown on student protests.
The ruling is the most dramatic legal action against a former Bangladeshi leader in decades and comes months ahead of parliamentary elections expected to be held in early February.
Sheikh Hasina Wajid's Awami League party has been barred from contesting and it is feared that Monday's verdict could stoke fresh unrest ahead of the vote.
The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh's domestic war crimes court located in the capital Dhaka, delivered the verdict amid tight security and in Hasina's absence after she fled to India in August 2024.
Hasina got a life sentence under charges for crimes against humanity and the death sentence for the killing of several people during the uprising. There was cheering and clapping in the court after the death sentence was pronounced. The verdict can be appealed in the Supreme Court.
But Hasina's son and adviser, Sajeeb Wazed, told British news agency on the eve of the verdict that they would not appeal unless a democratically elected government took office with the Awami League's participation.
During the trial, prosecutors told the court that they had uncovered evidence of her direct command to use lethal force to suppress a student-led uprising in July and August 2024.
According to a United Nations report, up to 1,400 people may have been killed during the protests between July 15 and August 5, 2024, with thousands more injured - most of them by gunfire from security forces
Hasina was represented by a state-appointed defence counsel who told the court that the charges against her were baseless and pleaded for her acquittal.
Ahead of the verdict, Hasina dismissed the accusations and the fairness of the Tribunal proceedings, asserting a guilty verdict was "a foregone conclusion."
Bangladesh has been tense ahead of the verdict, with at least 30 crude bomb explosions and 26 vehicles torched across the country over the past few days. There have been no casualties, however.
Security was tightened across the capital and elsewhere in the country, ahead of the International Crimes Tribunal's verdict in a case against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sheikh Mohammad Sazzat Ali, in a wireless message in the afternoon, instructed officers to use firearms if anyone attempts to torch vehicles or hurl crude bombs.
"Additional personnel have been assigned to strategic locations, including Dhaka, while special teams are on standby." He said, "Yes, I have given such directives. If anyone sets a bus on fire or throws a cocktail [crude bomb] and attacks police, will they sit idle?"
The directive was issued as at least 40 arson attacks -- mostly targeting buses -- and dozens of crude bomb explosions have been recorded nationwide over the past week. Two fatalities were also reported. The incidents are associated with Awami League's lockdown and shutdown programmes centring around the ICT-1 verdict.