Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death over crimes against humanity charges

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity linked to July demonstrations. Her aides were also convicted, with heightened security and arrests reported in Dhaka amid strikes and rising political unrest

Dhaka: Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday pronounced a death sentence for former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after it found her guilty on the charges of crimes against humanity related to the demonstrations in July of last year.

The court also convicted Hasina and her two top aides, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former Inspector General of Police, Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. Mamun has been granted a pardon, but the court said that, given the intensity of the crimes, he will be given a “lenient sentence”.

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The ousted leader’s sentencing is awaited as the verdict, consisting of 453 pages, is still being read out.

Till now, Hasina has defied the court’s orders by refusing to return to the South Asian nation to face trial. Asaduzzaman is currently a fugitive, while Mamun is in custody and has pleaded guilty.

Notably, Mamun has become a State witness, making him the first accused to do so since the tribunal was established in 2010. The verdict was being live broadcast by Bangladesh Television (BTV) from the ICT courtroom, where the three-member Tribunal-1, headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder, is delivering the judgment.

The formal charge documents consist of 8,747 pages, including references, seized evidence, and a comprehensive list of victims, reports leading Bangladeshi daily, The Dhaka Tribune.

Prosecutors have charged the accused with five counts, including failure to prevent murder, which constitutes crimes against humanity under Bangladeshi law.

They are seeking the death penalty if the defendants are found guilty. Additionally, the prosecutors requested that the tribunal confiscate the assets of the three defendants upon conviction and distribute them to the families of the victims. Hasina, however, has always denied all the charges.

Meanwhile, Dhaka has been placed under unprecedented security clampdown after Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Sheikh Md Sajjat Ali on Sunday evening issued a ‘shoot-at-sight order’ targeting individuals engaged in arson attacks, cocktail explosions or attempts to harm police and civilians ahead of the ICT verdict.

The two-day strike organised by Hasina’s Awami League for November 16–17 has coincided with an increase in cocktail explosions and arson incidents throughout the capital.

At least 21 leaders and workers from the Awami League, who are currently prohibited from engaging in political activities, were apprehended during special operations throughout Narayanganj in the last 36 hours, reports leading Bangladeshi newspaper, The Daily Star.