Dhaka steps up pressure on Delhi after ICT verdict

A Bangladeshi tribunal has sentenced Sheikh Hasina to death for “crimes against humanity”, but the ousted PM — who has been living in exile on Indian soil since August last year — remains stubbornly defiant. Delivering its verdict after a months-long trial, the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) described the Awami League leader as the “mastermind and principal architect” of the brutal crackdown that claimed the lives of hundreds of protesters. The 78-year-old Hasina has rejected the judgment, saying that it has been made by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government”. She has yet again dared the interim rulers to bring these charges against her in the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague. Notably, the Awami League has approached the ICC for a probe into ‘retaliatory violence’ against party officials following the July 2024 uprising.