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Bangladesh tribunal sentences ex-PM Sheikh Hasina to death in absentia
A special tribunal in Dhaka delivered a death sentence on Sunday to Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, convicting her of crimes against humanity for her role in a violent suppression of mass protests that toppled her government in August 2024. Hasina, who has lived in self-imposed exile in India since her removal, dismissed the proceedings as a "kangaroo court" orchestrated by political rivals.
Deadly crackdown and a fall from power
The tribunal found Hasina responsible for ordering security forces to use lethal force against demonstrators between 15 July and 5 August 2024, a period during which up to 1,400 people were killed, primarily by gunfire, according to a United Nations investigation. The bloodshed marked the worst violence in Bangladesh since its 1971 war of independence.
Protests initially centered on demands to abolish civil service job quotas but escalated into a broader anti-government movement. Hasina, who had ruled for over 20 years across multiple terms, responded with what critics described as systematic repression, including mass arrests and extrajudicial killings. A leaked audio recording allegedly captured her instructing forces to deploy "lethal weapons" against protesters-an accusation she denies.
From democracy icon to authoritarian leader
Hasina's political trajectory began as a pro-democracy activist in the 1980s, rising to prominence as the daughter of Bangladesh's founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. After surviving a 1975 coup that killed most of her family, she returned from exile in 1981 to lead the Awami League, her father's party. Her early tenure in the 1990s was marked by economic reforms, including a landmark water-sharing agreement with India and a peace deal with tribal insurgents.
Yet her later years in power were increasingly marred by allegations of authoritarianism. Rights groups documented at least 700 enforced disappearances and hundreds of extrajudicial killings since 2009. The U.S. sanctioned Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion in 2021 for human rights abuses, while journalists and activists faced arrests, surveillance, and harassment. Hasina's government denied all allegations, even as it restricted foreign media access to investigate claims.
"It is a farce-a kangaroo court controlled by my political opponents to deliver a pre-ordained guilty verdict... and to distract the world's attention from the chaos, violence, and misrule of [the new] government."
Sheikh Hasina, in an interview with the BBC, November 2025
Economic legacy and unraveling support
Under Hasina's leadership, Bangladesh's economy expanded rapidly, with per capita income tripling over a decade and over 25 million people lifted out of poverty, according to the World Bank. The garment industry, a cornerstone of exports, drove much of this growth, alongside infrastructure projects like the $2.9 billion Padma Bridge. However, critics argued that economic gains were concentrated among elites, while inflation, foreign debt, and cost-of-living crises deepened public discontent.
Her fourth term, secured in a January 2024 election widely condemned as a sham after opposition boycotts, proved her undoing. The quota protests, fueled by economic grievances, snowballed into nationwide unrest. On 5 August 2024, as crowds stormed her Dhaka residence, police killed at least 52 people in a single neighborhood-one of the deadliest days in Bangladesh's history. Hasina fled by helicopter to India, where she remains.
Ongoing legal battles and political fallout
Beyond the death sentence, Hasina faces additional charges of crimes against humanity related to forced disappearances during her tenure, as well as corruption trials in separate courts. She and the Awami League deny all allegations. Meanwhile, her successor-interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus-had been jailed earlier in 2024 on charges his supporters call politically motivated.
Hasina has called for the ban on her party to be lifted ahead of elections scheduled for February. Yet her legacy remains divisive: a leader who steered economic progress but whose later years were defined by repression, leaving Bangladesh grappling with the aftermath of her tumultuous departure.
