NEW DELHI: Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal has sentenced former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death in a case over alleged crimes against humanity committed during last year’s student-led agitation that led to the fall of her Awami League government.
The court found Hasina guilty on three counts, concluding a months-long trial that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year that led to the fall of her Awami League government.
The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Mohd Golam Mortuza Majumder, also pronounced its judgement against Hasina’s two aides, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, over the same charges.
The court said the three accused acted in connivance with each other to commit atrocities in order to kill protesters throughout the country. However, it pardoned the former police chief, who “sought an apology from the tribunal and the people of the country”.
Hasina and Kamal have been declared fugitives and tried in absentia, while Mamun initially faced trial in person before turning approver.
Hasina was “found guilty on three counts”, including incitement, ordering to kill, and inaction to prevent the atrocities, Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder read to the packed court in Dhaka.
“We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence — that is, the sentence of death.”
Hasina’s party has dismissed the verdict as “biased and politically motivated”.
In a statement issued minutes after the sentence, Hasina’s Awami League party said the call to put her to death revealed “the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government”.
