When the political tides shift... Sheikh Hasina, Zulfikar Bhutto & other leaders who were sentenced to death
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death for allowing the use of lethal force against protesters during the student protests in 2024. However, she is not the only head of government who has met this fate. Here is a look back at a few other prominent world leaders who faced execution in the past
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Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity by a special tribunal on Monday (November 17) following her conviction for using brutal force against demonstrators during last year’s student protests in Bangladesh. Ironically, the sentence was awarded to the 78-year-old leader by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) that she herself set up in 2009 to allegedly go after political enemies. More than 1,400 people lost their lives while hundreds of others were injured in the protests that led to Hasina’s ouster. File photo/Reuters
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Pakistan’s former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death on March 18, 1978, by the Lahore High Court for allegedly ordering the assassination of Ahmed Reza Kasuri, one of the founding members of the Pakistan Peoples Party. He was executed by hanging on April 4, 1979, under General Zia-ul-Haq’s military regime. It ignited long-lasting political divisions in Pakistan. File photo/AFP
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Another former prime minister of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, was sentenced to death in absentia in 2019. He was sentenced by a special court for high treason over his 2007 emergency rule, which suspended the constitution. Musharraf never faced execution, as he had already moved to Dubai due to his ailing health when the order was passed. He died in exile in 2023. File photo/AFP
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Iraq’s former president and dictator, Saddam Hussein, was captured by US forces in 2003 and put on trial by an Iraqi tribunal for crimes against humanity. He was found guilty and sentenced to death on December 30, 2006, in connection with the 1982 Dujail massacre. File photo/Reuters
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Italy’s fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, was captured by Italian partisans in April 1945 at the end of World War II. He was sentenced to death for war crimes and dictatorship and executed by a firing squad. His body was later displayed publicly in Milan, symbolising fascism’s collapse in Italy. File photo/Wikimedia Commons
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Hideki Tojo was Japan’s wartime prime minister, who was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East after World War II. Convicted of war crimes, including responsibility for aggressive expansion and atrocities, he was executed by hanging in 1948. This marked Japan’s reckoning with its militarist past. File photo/AFP
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South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death in 1996 for his role in the 1979 military coup and the brutal 1980 Gwangju Massacre, which left hundreds of pro-democracy protesters dead. His sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment and then pardoned in 1997 as part of national reconciliation efforts. He passed away in 2021. File photo/Reuters
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Afghanistan’s former president, Mohammad Najibullah, was sentenced to death by Taliban courts after his government collapsed. In 1996, Taliban fighters dragged him from the UN refuge and executed him publicly. File photo/Reuters
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Iran’s longest-serving prime minister under the Shah, Amir Abbas Hoveyda, was arrested after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He was sentenced to death after he was found guilty of mismanagement and corruption. Despite global appeals for fairness, he was sentenced to death and executed in April 1979. File photo/Wikimedia Commons
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Romania’s communist dictator and president, Nicolae Ceaușescu, was sentenced to death in December 1989 after a rapid military trial during the Romanian Revolution. He and his wife Elena were executed after he was convicted of genocide, corruption, and abuse of power. His fall ended one of Eastern Europe’s most repressive Cold War regimes. File image/Reuters
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