Bangladesh's ousted PM Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death for 'crimes against humanity'

Bangladesh's deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal for “crimes against humanity” over her government's brutal crackdown on student-led protests last year.

In its verdict that followed a months-long trial, the country's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) described the 78-year-old Awami League leader as the “mastermind and principal architect” of the violent repression that killed hundreds of protesters.

The tribunal also sentenced former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death in absentia for crimes against humanity, while former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who turned state witness, was sentenced to five years of imprisonment in the case.

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Hasina has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests.  She was earlier declared a fugitive by the court.

In her reaction, Hasina said the judgement has been made by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate.”

“They are biased and politically motivated. In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove Bangladesh's last elected prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League as a political force,” she said in a statement.

Hasina said she was not afraid to face her “accusers” in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly.

“That is why I have repeatedly challenged the interim government to bring these charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.”

The verdict comes months before parliamentary elections in Bangladesh. Hasina's Awami League party has been barred from contesting the elections scheduled to be held in February.

Reading out the judgment before a heavily guarded courtroom in Dhaka, the ICT said the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Hasina was behind the deadly crackdown on student-led protests in July-August last year.

A UN rights office report had earlier estimated that up to 1,400 people were killed during the month-long agitation, known as the July Uprising.

Hasina was handed the death penalty for ordering the use of deadly force against unarmed protesters, making inflammatory statements and authorising operations that led to the killing of several students in Dhaka and surrounding areas.

In recent media interviews, Hasina described the ICT as a “kangaroo court” run by her opponents.

The ICT, originally set up to try hardened collaborators of Pakistani forces during the 1971 Liberation War, was amended by the current administration to bring leaders of the past regime, including Hasina, under its jurisdiction.

Most Awami League leaders have either been arrested or have fled the country since the collapse of the Hasina regime.

By inciting violence through provocative statements and taking no punitive measures against the perpetrators who attacked protesting students, Hasina committed crimes against humanity, the ICT said.

She also ordered the use of helicopters and lethal weapons on protestors, it said.