Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister sentenced to demise for function in protest crackdown

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A particular tribunal sentenced Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and certainly one of her shut aides to demise on costs of crimes in opposition to humanity for her crackdown on a pupil rebellion final 12 months that killed a whole lot of individuals and led to the toppling of her 15-year rule.

The Worldwide Crimes Tribunal primarily based in Dhaka, the capital, sentenced Hasina and former Dwelling Minister Asaduzzaman Khan to demise for his or her involvement in the usage of lethal pressure in opposition to protesters.

Each Hasina and Khan fled to India final 12 months and have been sentenced in absentia.

A 3rd suspect, a former police chief, was sentenced to 5 years in jail after turning into a state witness in opposition to Hasina and pleading responsible.

Hasina and Khan have been accused of crimes in opposition to humanity for the killing of a whole lot of individuals throughout a student-led rebellion in July and August of 2024. The nation’s well being adviser below the nation’s present interim authorities stated greater than 800 folks have been killed and about 14,000 have been injured. The United Nations in a February report estimated that as much as 1,400 might have been killed.

Hasina’s response

Hasina says the fees are unjustified, arguing that she and Khan “acted in good faith and were trying to minimize the loss of life.”

“We lost control of the situation, but to characterize what happened as a premeditated assault on citizens is simply to misread the facts,” she stated Monday in an announcement denouncing a verdict she referred to as “biased and politically motivated.”

“I mourn all of the deaths that occurred in July and August of last year, on both sides of the political divide,” she stated. “But neither I nor other political leaders ordered the killing of protesters.”

Hasina can’t enchantment the decision until she surrenders or is arrested inside 30 days of the judgment.

The decision comes because the nation nonetheless grapples with instability after Hasina was ousted on Aug. 5, 2024. Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as the top of an interim authorities three days after her fall. Yunus has vowed to punish Hasina and banned the actions of her Awami League celebration forward of elections set for February.

A 3-member tribunal, headed by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, introduced the tribunal’s ruling, a session that was broadcast stay and lasted hours.

A few of these within the packed courtroom cheered when Mazumder introduced the demise penalty for Hasina. He admonished them, telling them to specific their emotions outdoors the courtroom.

Many households of the killed and the injured throughout final 12 months’s rebellion waited for hours outdoors the tribunal.

Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed, at present in america, stated in message to The Related Press that the “verdict is a joke and meaningless. My mother is safe in India. The trials were so legally flawed they won’t survive any challenge once rule of law returns to Bangladesh.”

Exile in India

In a media assertion Monday, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Dwelling Affairs urged India to ship each Hasina and Khan again quickly.

India’s overseas ministry in an announcement acknowledged the tribunal’s verdict however fell wanting stating whether or not it could hand them over to Dhaka.

“As a close neighbor, India remains committed to the best interests of people of Bangladesh, including in peace, democracy, inclusion and stability in that country. We will always engage constructively with all stakeholders to that end,” it stated.

India beforehand had not responded to requests by Bangladesh to extradite Hasina and Khan to face trial.

India’s failure to extradite the pair has created some tensions between the neighboring nations.

Tensions earlier than and after the decision

Tensions and disruptions had grown within the nation in latest days forward of the decision.

Almost 50 arson assaults, largely focusing on autos, and dozens of crude bombs explosions have been reported nationwide over the previous week. Two folks have been killed within the arson assaults, native media reported.The interim authorities beefed up safety forward of the decision, with paramilitary border guards and police deployed in Dhaka and lots of different components of the nation.

Hasina’s Awami League celebration referred to as for a nationwide shutdown to protest the decision on Monday.

A couple of kilometers away from the tribunal, Hasina’s opponents on Monday gathered outdoors her father’s home-turned-museum to demolish the remainder of the institution, which was looted and broken earlier. They introduced two excavators to demolish the constructing.

Police charged with batons and used stun grenades to disperse the group even because the judges have been nonetheless studying out the decision.

Within the night greater than 300 folks have been nonetheless there and burned tires on streets because the safety officers took their place.

Authorities on the Supreme Court docket, in a letter to military headquarters on Sunday, requested the deployment of troopers across the tribunal premises forward of the decision.

Yunus stated his interim authorities would maintain the nation’s subsequent elections in February, and that Hasina’s celebration wouldn’t get an opportunity to contest the race.

Bangladesh’s politics below Yunus has remained at a crossroads with restricted indicators of stability.