Dhaka, Nov 17: Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been convicted of crimes against humanity for her alleged role in ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising that led to her ouster in August 2024, a court announced Monday. Prosecutors have requested the death penalty for Hasina and her aides.
Hasina, 78, and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal were tried in absentia, while former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun appeared in court. The three face five charges, including murder, attempted murder, torture, and other inhumane acts. A central allegation accuses Hasina of ordering the “extermination” of protesters, and of directing the use of deadly weapons against students. Additional charges relate to six unarmed protesters killed in Dhaka and nearby areas.
Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam called Hasina the “mastermind and principal architect” of the alleged atrocities. The charges relate to the “July Uprising” between July 15 and August 15, 2024, during which a UN rights office report estimated up to 1,400 deaths in security operations.
Hasina and Kamal fled Bangladesh on August 5 amid the protests and are believed to be in India. The Yunus-led interim government has sought their extradition, but India has yet to respond. Mamun, initially tried in person, later became an approver in the case.
The tribunal concluded hearings on October 23 after 28 working days, during which 54 witnesses testified regarding the state’s response to the student agitation. Security has been intensified across the country ahead of the verdict, with Dhaka police issuing shoot-at-sight orders and army, Border Guard Bangladesh, and riot police deployed near the ICT-BD complex. Streets in the capital were largely deserted as the Awami League observed a two-day shutdown.
In statements to international media, Hasina denounced the trial as politically motivated and a “kangaroo court.” In an emailed interview with PTI, she expressed willingness to face trial under international supervision, including at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, alleging that the Yunus administration avoids impartial proceedings.
Originally established to try collaborators of Pakistani forces during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War, the ICT-BD tribunal’s mandate was later amended under the Yunus administration to prosecute leaders of Hasina’s previous government. Most senior Awami League figures are now either in jail or in hiding.
