A Bangladesh court convicted ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina of crimes against humanity on Monday, concluding a months-long trial that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.
The prosecution had sought the death penalty for Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan. It did not recommend any penalty for a third suspect – a former police chief who became a state witness and pleaded guilty.
Hasina and Asaduzzaman were tried in absentia for crimes against humanity for the killing of hundreds of people during a student-led uprising in July and August of 2024.
The United Nations in a February report said up to 1,400 may have been killed in the violence, while the country’s health adviser under the interim government said more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured.
The interim government in Bangladesh strengthened security in the nation’s capital and elsewhere on Monday ahead of the verdict.
Paramilitary border guards and police were deployed in Dhaka and many other parts of the country as Hasina’s Awami League party called for a nationwide shutdown on Monday to protest against the verdict, calling the tribunal a “kangaroo court”.
Hasina was ousted on August 5 last year and fled to India.
Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of an interim government three days after her fall. Yunus vowed to punish Hasina and banned the activities of her Awami League party. (SCMP)