London- A special tribunal in Dhaka has handed

down the death sentence to Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.

Delivering its verdict at a packed court on Monday, the Tribunal said she was responsible for ordering a violent crackdown on protesters during which up to 1,400 people died.

Hasina, 78, who is living in India in exile since she was ousted from power in August 2024, was tried in her absence.

Former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was also awarded the death penalty while former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who became a state witness, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in the case, Daily Star newspaper reported.

The court also ordered the confiscation of the properties of Hasina and Asaduzzaman in favour of the state. 

Hasina has denied all charges and claimed that the Tribunal was a ‘Kangaroo court.’

Asaduzzaman is a fugitive while Mamun is in custody and has pleaded guilty. 

The verdict will put India under pressure to extradite Hasina but it is unlikely to do so, BBC reported.

Security has been tightened across Bangladesh over fears of a backlash, with some protests already breaking out in some parts of the country.

Longest serving Prime Minister

Bangladesh’s longest-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed is a daughter of nation’s founder Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

She ruled for 20 years as the country’s prime minister from 1996 to 2001 and again from 2009 to 2024.

She is credited for the country’s socio-economic progress but also accused of running the country in an authoritarian way.

In 2022, anti-government protests broke out demanding the resignation of Hasina, which was followed by fresh protests in July 2024, demanding the reform of the quota system in the country’s civil service.

 Law-enforcement agencies and paramilitary forces suppressed the protests violently in July 2024.  By August, the protests intensified into ‘non-cooperation movement’ against the government, which eventually culminated in Hasina resigning and fleeing to India.