Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina Sentenced to Death

A court in Bangladesh has sentenced the country’s former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, to death after finding her guilty of crimes against humanity. The International Crimes Tribunal in the capital city, Dhaka, delivered the verdict.

The court also sentenced the former Home Minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, to death. A third official, former Police Chief Al Mamun, was given a 5-year jail sentence. He received a lighter sentence because he acted as a government witness during the trial.

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The charges relate to a violent crackdown on widespread protests in July and August of last year. Sheikh Hasina was not present for the trial as she is living in exile in India. The protests in 2024 forced her from power, and she fled the country that August.

Prosecutors filed the case last June, accusing Hasina’s government of attacking protesters. They claimed that the government’s actions led to the deaths of 1,400 people and left 25,000 others injured. The main charges included murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, and inciting violence.

A prosecutor, Tajul Islam, told the court that on July 14 last year, Hasina made a speech calling student protesters the “grandchildren of Razakars,” which encouraged the violence.

What does “Razakar” mean? In Bangladesh, Razakar is a very serious insult meaning “traitor” or “collaborator.” It refers to people who helped the Pakistani army during Bangladesh’s independence war in 1971.

The official charges stated that government officials and armed groups from Hasina’s party attacked unarmed students and the public in a planned way. They were also charged with conspiracy, meaning they knew the violence was happening but did nothing to stop it.

The case listed several specific killings, including the murder of a student in Rangpur, the killing of six people in Dhaka, and an incident on August 5, 2024, where five people were shot and killed, and one person was allegedly burned alive. It was on that same day that Hasina and her officials fled the country as the protests grew.