Bangladesh court sentences ex-PM Hasina to death for crimes against humanity

ISLAMABAD: The International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and ex-Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death for crimes against humanity linked to the July Mass Uprising.

A three-judge bench led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder issued the ruling. The panel said the evidence supported every charge brought against the two former officials.

Former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun was also convicted. He received a five-year sentence after giving extensive testimony as a state witness.

The tribunal began announcing the verdict at 12:50 pm local time. Justice Mozumder said the ruling ran 453 pages and was divided into six sections. He told the courtroom that only a summarized version would be read aloud and that the final section would be delivered by him. He estimated the process would take roughly 40 minutes.

Security was tightened around the courthouse, with personnel from the Bangladesh Army, Border Guard Bangladesh, the Rapid Action Battalion and the police stationed at all entry points.

According to BSS, this is the first case before the tribunal involving the state’s actions during the July Mass Uprising to reach a final judgment.

Hasina, 78, defied court orders that she return from India to attend her trial about whether she ordered a deadly crackdown against a student-led uprising that ousted her in August 2024, according to AFP.

Up to 1,400 deaths  

The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina tried to cling to power, deaths that were central to her trial.

"Justice will be served according to the law," chief prosecutor Tajul Islam, earlier told reporters when the verdict date was set last week.

Charges against Hasina 

Prosecutors have filed five charges, including failure to prevent murder, amounting to crimes against humanity under Bangladeshi law.

According to BSS, the five charges framed against the ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and former inspector general of police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, are as follows:

1. Inciting the crimes through provocative speech: Following Sheikh Hasina's speech at a press briefing on July 14, 2024, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, and other senior officials of the then government abetted, assisted and were complicit in launching a severe and coordinated attack on unarmed student protesters.

2. Ordering the extermination of protesters using lethal weapons: Sheikh Hasina is accused of ordering the extermination of student demonstrators through the use of helicopters, drones, and lethal weapons. The then home minister and the then IGP facilitated and implemented this directive by issuing instructions to law enforcement personnel under their command.

3. Killing of BRUR student Abu Sayed: This charge concerns the July 16, 2024, killing of Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayed, who was shot multiple times at close range in the chest.

4. Chankharpul killings: The shooting and killing of six unarmed protesters in Dhaka's Chankharpul area on August 5, 2024, has been brought as a separate count of crimes against humanity.

5. Ashulia mass killing: The prosecution also cited the shooting of six student protesters in Ashulia on August 5, 2024 - five of whom were later burned after death, while the sixth was allegedly set on fire while still alive.

'Preordained' 

The trial has heard months of testimony in absentia alleging she ordered mass killings. She has called the trial a "jurisprudential joke", according to AFP.

Her co-accused include former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal -- also a fugitive -- and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who is in custody and has pleaded guilty.

Hasina was assigned a state-appointed lawyer for the trial, but she refused to recognize the court's authority and said she rejected all charges.

Hasina said in a written interview with AFP in October that a guilty verdict was "preordained" and that she would "not be surprised when it comes".

High alert 

Security forces surrounded the court when the verdict date was set on Thursday, with armored vehicles manning checkpoints.

Dhaka Municipal Police spokesman Talebur Rahman said the force would be on high alert for Monday's verdict, with checkpoints at key intersections across the capital.

Almost half the city's 34,000 police would be on duty, he said.

Interim interior ministry chief Jahangir Alam Chowdhury told reporters the government was prepared and there was no cause for concern.

Crude bombs have been set off across Dhaka this month, mainly petrol bombs hurled at everything from buildings linked to interim leader Muhammad Yunus's government to buses and Christian sites.

Bangladesh's foreign ministry summoned India's envoy to Dhaka this month, demanding that New Delhi block the "notorious fugitive" Hasina from talking to journalists and "granting her a platform to spew hatred".

Ruthless bid to maintain power 

She said in October she "mourned all the lives lost during the terrible days" when students were gunned down in the streets.

Her comments enraged many who said she had made a ruthless bid to maintain power at all costs.

Hasina also warned that the ban on her former ruling party, the Awami League, by the interim government was deepening the political crisis in the country of 170 million people before the elections.