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Bangladesh Tribunal Sentences Ex–Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Death Over 2024 Protest Crackdown

The in-absentia ruling opens a 30-day appeal window that can be used only if she is arrested or surrenders.

Overview

  • Former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan was also sentenced to death, while a former police chief received five years after turning state witness.
  • Judges found Hasina responsible for inciting and ordering lethal force, with charges including murder, attempted murder, torture, other inhumane acts, and failure to prevent abuses, citing the August 5 killing of six unarmed protesters in Dhaka.
  • Hasina and Khan were tried in absentia while living in India; Bangladesh requested their extradition and India said it had "taken note" without committing to a handover.
  • United Nations reporting estimates roughly 1,400 deaths and thousands injured in the 2024 repression, though interim officials cite more than 800 deaths; Hasina rejects the verdict as politically motivated.
  • Security was tightened nationwide with arson and crude-bomb blasts reported, the Awami League called a national strike, and elections are scheduled for February with the party barred under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.