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A special court in Bangladesh has sentenced former leader Sheikh Hasina to death in absentia for crimes against humanity over her role in a deadly crackdown during an uprising that toppled her government last year.
Sheikh Hasina was found guilty on Monday by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal of three charges relating to the killing of student protesters, as well as two of overseeing the crackdown, for which she was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder said it was “crystal clear” that Sheikh Hasina “gave incitement to her party Awami League”.
“Furthermore, she expressed that she ordered to eliminate the student protesters,” he added.
According to the UN, as many as 1,400 people were killed, most by security forces, in last year’s uprising, which brought to an end Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule. The 78-year-old was being tried in absentia, having fled to India after her regime collapsed.
The interim government in Bangladesh, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, has requested her extradition, but New Delhi has not issued a formal response.
Yunus’s government last year appointed a new chief prosecutor to the country’s International Crimes Tribunal, Mohammad Tajul Islam, to bring those responsible for a violent crackdown to justice. Earlier this year, Tajul Islam formally charged Sheikh Hasina with alleged crimes against humanity.
Sheikh Hasina has repeatedly denied responsibility. In a statement released after the verdict she said: “The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate. They are biased and politically motivated.”
She added: “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.”
The Awami League, her party that was banned from political activity in May, said in a statement prior to the verdict that the charges were “baseless”.
The former leader is facing separate charges over extrajudicial killings and disappearances under her regime, for which she also denies wrongdoing.
Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said that while the “egregious abuses” under Sheikh Hasina’s rule needed to be investigated and prosecuted, the group is opposed to capital punishment and called on the Yunus government to “ensure a credible justice system”.
In the run-up to the verdict, Dhaka was rocked by a sharp rise in attacks, with dozens of crude bomb explosions, including near the airport, and torched buses.
Security was tightened on Monday, with army, police and paramilitary forces cordoning off the tribunal area in central Dhaka.
Authorities have also detained dozens of Awami League activists in recent days over allegations of involvement in explosions and sabotage, heightening tensions ahead of an election set for next year.
