Bangladesh court sentences former prime minister to death
- The San Juan Daily Star
- Nov 18, 2025
- 4 min read
By SAIF HASNAT and ANUPREETA DAS
The former prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death Monday, a triumph for the interim government that promised to deliver justice for the hundreds of unarmed protesters killed during a brutal crackdown last year.
Even though it’s unlikely Hasina will be extradited from India, where she lives in exile, the ruling was a celebratory moment for many Bangladeshis. Hundreds of people waited outside the country’s Supreme Court with bated breath as the judges read the summary of the 453-page judgment, which took 2 1/2 hours. Then, when the verdict came, they celebrated on the heavily policed streets of Dhaka, the capital, on Monday afternoon.
The decision by the International Crimes Tribunal, a Bangladeshi court, is significant because it fulfills one of the promises made by the interim government of Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate, who was tasked with rebuilding Bangladesh. But Yunus, 85, has many other promises to fulfill, including holding free and fair elections that are acceptable both to Bangladesh’s main political parties and the international community.
The challenge is pressing, because the Yunus government has already come under scrutiny for alleged human rights violations amid ongoing political chaos and a rise in religious extremism. Yunus also has to balance his country’s relationship with India, its large neighbor and a close ally of Hasina. She has lived in exile there since fleeing Bangladesh last year after protests swelled over the killing of civilians.
“Understanding why people risk everything for genuine representation — and creating systems worthy of that trust — is essential,” Yunus said in a statement, referring to those who were killed in the student revolution that started as peaceful protests against a quota system for government jobs. The verdict offered “vital, if insufficient” justice, he said, and promised to rebuild trust between citizens and their institutions.
“Bangladesh is now rejoining global currents of accountability,” Yunus said.
Yunus has set elections for February. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the Jamaat-e-Islami party and the newly formed National Citizens Party are expected to put up candidates. But Yunus has been steadfast in his refusal to let politicians from Hasina’s Awami League party, the country’s biggest, run for election. The current stance of his government is that Awami League members have to first face trials for allegations of atrocities and that cases against them must be dealt with.
The Bangladesh Election Commission removed the Awami League from the official list of registered political parties, and it is barred from carrying out any activities in Bangladesh under the country’s anti-terrorism laws. However, party supporters called for a protest Tuesday after the verdict.
In a statement Monday, Hasina said she “wholly” denied the accusations made by the tribunal. She called the verdict politically motivated and delivered by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate.” She said that the trials were conducted to “scapegoat” the Awami League.
The Indian government said it “remains committed” to the best interests of Bangladeshis and that it would work “constructively with all stakeholders.”
A United Nations fact-finding mission estimated that about 1,400 people were killed during the protests.
Dhaka had been on edge in the days leading up to the verdict, with vehicles set on fire and bombings reported in various parts of the city of about 25 million. Police arrested dozens of supporters of Hasina’s Awami League party in recent days, although it was unclear whether any of the arrests were in connection with the bombings. About 15,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed to maintain security in Dhaka on Monday.
Yunus’ government has come under fire from human rights organizations, which have accused it of using anti-terrorism laws to suppress dissent and crack down on Awami League members.
“The interim government should not be engaging in the same partisan behavior that Bangladeshis had to endure under Sheikh Hasina, whether it is stuffing the prisons with political opponents or shutting down peaceful dissent,” Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
International rights groups have urged Bangladesh’s interim government to stop politically motivated arrests, especially of Awami League members, and to reform the security forces accused of past abuses.
The verdicts were the first to be handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal in connection with the July killings. Many other people are being tried by the same court, which was set up decades ago by Hasina herself to hear allegations of crimes against humanity during Bangladesh’s independence war in 1971.
Hasina’s former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, who was last reported to be in India, was sentenced to death after being convicted on the same charges. Her former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who is in Bangladesh and provided help to investigators, was given a lesser sentence, five years in prison.
While some cheered the verdicts, there were also fears that they could spur fresh violence and sow political chaos before elections. Since the revolution, Bangladesh has remained unstable and prone to bouts of violence, with two of its major parties bickering about adopting a so-called July Charter. The document on democratic changes, signed by all major political parties, is the outcome of recommendations provided by several reform committees Yunus set up. One included strengthening the constitution so that it cannot be easily bent again to the desires of a specific leader.
Differences center on the timing of a referendum for putting the July Charter in place before the upcoming election. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party and several others want the referendum to take place with the national election in February, arguing that it would ensure genuine popular consent for the charter’s proposals, which include constitutional amendments.
But Jamaat-e-Islami, the third-largest political party, wanted to hold the referendum before the election to provide strong legitimacy for the charter ahead of the new parliament. Yunus made the final decision: The referendum for how the provisions of the charter will be carried out will be on the same day as the election.
Comments