Bangladesh Tribunal Sentences Deposed PM Sheikh Hasina to Death for ‘Crimes Against Humanity’

Bangladesh Tribunal Sentences Deposed PM Sheikh Hasina to Death for ‘Crimes Against Humanity’

Hasina stated she is willing to attend a fresh trial outside Bangladesh and has repeatedly challenged the interim government to bring these charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

RMN News Political Desk
New Delhi | November 17, 2025

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) has sentenced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death after finding her guilty of alleged crimes against humanity committed during the student-led agitation in 2024 that resulted in the fall of her Awami League government. The verdict, which was delivered on Monday (November 17), was protested by Hasina’s party, which called for a nationwide shutdown and denounced the tribunal as a “kangaroo court”.

Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder, reading the decision to a packed court in Dhaka, stated that the tribunal had decided to inflict “only one sentence — that is, sentence of death”. Hasina was found guilty on three counts: preventing justice, ordering the killing of protesters, and failing to take measures to stop punitive killings.

Tribunal Observations on Hasina’s Directives

The tribunal observed that Hasina had directly ordered the killing of protesting students during the August 2024 uprising.

Key evidence cited by the ICT-BD included:

• Order to Use Lethal Force: The tribunal observed that Hasina had ordered the use of helicopters, drones, and lethal weapons against the protesters. This directive was reportedly revealed in her conversation with the mayor of South Dhaka Municipal Corporation, with the CD and recording having been forensically deemed genuine.
• Controversial Remarks: Records of Hasina’s conversation with the Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor were also noted. The judge remarked that Hasina had undermined the student movement, noting that she referred to Dhaka University students as “Razakar”. On the night following July 14, 2024, Hasina told the VC, “I have hanged Razakars, they [protesters] will also be hanged. None of them will be spared,” adding, “I am ordering their arrest and action”. The judge concluded that her remarks further enraged protesters.
• Joint Action and Hate Speech: The judge stated that Hasina, along with the former home minister and the ex-police chief, had acted jointly to kill and suppress the protesters. The tribunal also found that Hasina made hate speeches and, in a phone call with an aide named Shakeel, asked him to kill 226 people linked to cases filed against her.

Co-Defendants and Violence Context

The tribunal also delivered judgment against two of Hasina’s aides: former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, over the same charges. Al-Mamun was produced before the tribunal but was ultimately spared the death penalty after becoming a state witness. Both Hasina and Kamal are being tried in absentia.

The charges stem from the violence during the student-led uprising in July and August of 2024. A United Nations report in February said that up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the violence. The country’s health adviser under the interim government reported more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured.

Security Alert and Hasina’s Response

Hasina was ousted on August 5 last year and subsequently fled to India. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of an interim government three days after her fall. Yunus has vowed to punish Hasina and banned the activities of her Awami League party. The interim government stated it would hold the next elections in February, where Hasina’s party would not be allowed to contest.

In a statement issued from her hiding place in India, Hasina strongly denounced the verdict, claiming the rulings were made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate. She called the verdicts “biased and politically motivated,” and claimed her guilty verdict was a “foregone conclusion”. Hasina stated she is willing to attend a fresh trial outside Bangladesh and has repeatedly challenged the interim government to bring these charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

Prior to the verdict, security was significantly beefed up in Dhaka and other parts of the country. Paramilitary border guards and police were deployed, and authorities at the Supreme Court requested the deployment of soldiers around the tribunal premises. Dhaka’s police chief issued a “shoot-on-sight” order targeting anyone attempting to torch vehicles or hurl crude bombs, following reports of nearly 50 arson attacks (mostly targeting vehicles), dozens of crude bomb explosions, and two reported deaths nationwide over the past week.