A Bangladesh court sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death on Monday, ending a months-long trial that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.
Hasina was “found guilty on three counts”, including inciting, ordering murder and failing to prevent the atrocities, Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder read to a packed court in Dhaka.
“We have decided to give her only one sentence – that is the death penalty.”
The decision came months before parliamentary elections expected in early February.
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Here is what Hasina said
Hasina called the guilty verdict and death penalty in her crimes against humanity trial “biased and politically motivated”, Reuters reported.
Hasina, 78, has defied court orders to return from India to attend a trial over whether she ordered the deadly crackdown on the student-led uprising that ousted her.
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“The judgments announced against me were handed down by a rigged tribunal set up and presided over by an unelected government without a democratic mandate,” Hasina said in a statement issued from a hideout in India.
Hasina remarked, “I am not afraid to face my accusers before a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and fairly tested.”
She said she was given no fair chance to defend herself in court. She added: “We have lost control of the situation, but we cannot characterize what happened as a premeditated attack on citizens.”
Hasina’s Awami League party has been expelled from the contest and there are fears that Monday’s verdict could spark fresh unrest ahead of the vote.
The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh’s domestic war crimes court based in the capital Dhaka, handed down the guilty verdict under tight security and in Hasina’s absence after she fled to India in August 2024.
The military stood guard outside a court as the government increased security, ahead of the verdict in the cases against ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, November 17, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
The verdict can be appealed to the Supreme Court.
But Hasina’s son and adviser Sajeeb Wazed told Reuters on the eve of the verdict that they would not appeal unless a democratically elected government with the participation of the Awami League took office.
What did the judgment say?
According to a Dhaka Tribune report, the verdict concludes that Hasina and two other accused, former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, organized and enabled atrocities during the July-August movement.
The Awami League leader, currently in exile in India, was tried in absentia. The 78-year-old leader fled to New Delhi after the fall of her regime in Dhaka.
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“The accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina committed crimes against humanity by her incitement order and also by her failure to take preventive and punitive measures under Count 1,” the International Criminal Court said, according to Al Jazeera.
“Accused Sheikh Hasina has committed one count of crimes against humanity by ordering the use of drones, helicopters and deadly weapons under charge number 2,” the special tribunal said.
How many charges does Hasina face?
Sheikh Hasina, who headed the now-banned Awami League party, faces a total of five charges.
These include orchestrating the mass killing of protesters in Dhaka, using helicopters and drones to fire on crowds of civilians, the murder of student activist Abu Sayed, burning bodies in Ashulia to destroy evidence, and the coordinated killing of protesters in Chankharpul.
The case against Hasina and her two aides relates to crimes during student demonstrations against the government from July 15 to August 5, 2024.
The formal charging documents are 8,747 pages long, containing references, seized evidence and a detailed list of victims, the Dhaka Tribune reported.
Live telecast of the verdict
Bangladesh television broadcast live proceedings as Judge Golam Murtaza, who heads the country’s International Criminal Tribunal-1 – the three-member tribunal overseeing the case – began reading the verdict on Monday afternoon.
Yunus said his caretaker government would hold the next election in February and that Hasina’s party would have no chance of fighting the race.
Bangladeshi politics under Yunus remained at a crossroads with limited signs of stability.
Politically motivated?
Hasina, 78, who has remained in India since her ouster in August 2024, questioned the tribunal’s legitimacy in an email interview with Reuters last month.
“These proceedings are a politically motivated charade,” she said. “They were tried by kangaroo courts, with the verdicts of guilt a foregone conclusion. They are presided over by an unelected government made up of my political opponents.”
She also said she was denied adequate notice of the hearing and any meaningful opportunity to defend herself, adding that she was not personally involved in the use of deadly force or other alleged crimes.
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The Muslim-majority South Asian country of 170 million people has been ruled by an interim administration led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus since Hasina fled. Although the country has been largely peaceful since then, political stability has yet to return.
In an interview with Reuters, Hasina warned of growing anger among Awami League supporters and said millions of party loyalists would boycott parliamentary elections in February.
(With input from agencies)
