Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina awarded death sentence in 2024 mass protests case

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday awarded death sentence to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the crimes against humanity case.

The ICT convicted Hasina on multiple charges, such as incitement of killings, ordering killings, and inaction that led to killings during last year’s mass protests.

The prosecutors had sought death penalty for Hasina over her handling of last year’s mass protests and street violence that toppled her government. Former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun were also convicted in the case.

Hasina and Khan were tried in absentia whereas Mamun was produced in the court. Khan was also sentenced to death and Mamun was handed a five-year term.

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Hasina rejected the judgement as one by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate”.

“In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove Bangladesh’s last elected prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League as a political force,” Hasina said in a statement.

Previously, Hasina has dismissed the ICT as a kangaroo court and has dubbed Bangladesh’s ruler, Muhammad Yunus, as a front for extremists.

The ICT had framed five charges against Hasina and Khan: provocative speeches; orders to kill protesters with lethal weapons; shooting dead Abu Sayeed, a student at Begum Rokeya University, in Rangpur; shooting of six people in Dhaka’s Chankharpul area; and burning to death six others in Ashulia.

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“Sheikh Hasina has committed crimes against humanity. Six protesters at Chankharpul were killed using lethal weapons on August 5. By issuing orders and through the inaction of Sheikh Hasina, the then Home Minister, and the IG of police, the students were killed. These killings happened under the orders and full knowledge of PM Sheikh Hasina. By such acts, they committed crimes against humanity,” the ICT ruled.

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After protests and street violence spiralled last year, Hasina fled to India on August 5. The agitators and the Bangladeshi military joined hands to prop Yunus as the country’s interim ruler.

Yunus’ case against Hasina

Bangladesh’s Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam has described Hasina as the “mastermind and principal architect” of the alleged atrocities during last year’s protests.

Previously, Islam had said that Hasina should ideally be sentenced to death 1,400 times for deaths of 1,400 people during last year’s protests. But, since that is not possible, he said, Hasina should be sentenced at least once.

“We demand the highest punishment for her. For a single murder, one death penalty is the rule. For 1,400 murders, she should be sentenced 1,400 times but since that is not humanly possible, we demand at least one,” Islam said last month.

Islam said that Hasina was “the nucleus around whom all the crimes committed during the July–August uprising revolved”.

The ICT concluded hearings in the case on October 23 after 28 working days. The court heard 54 witnesses’ testimonies.

The charge sheet ran into 8,747 pages, including 2,018 pages of references, 405 pages of seized documents, and a 2,724-page list of deceased, according to Dhaka Tribune.