A Bangladesh court sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death on Monday concluding a months long trial that found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student led uprising last year. The court found that Hasina 78 ordered security forces to use lethal force against protesters in July and August 2024 resulting in as many as 1,400 deaths and thousands more injured marking the worst violence in Bangladesh since its independence. Hasina was tried in absentia after fleeing to India in August 2024. She has denied the charges dismissed the tribunal as unfair and insisted that a guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion. The ruling comes months ahead of parliamentary elections expected in February 2026 with her Awami League party barred from contesting. Observers warn that the verdict could ignite further unrest following recent incidents of crude bomb explosions and vehicles being set on fire across the country though fortunately no casualties were reported. Sheikh Hasina is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Bangladesh’s founding father who famously acted against the state of Pakistan and sought Indian support to establish Bangladesh as an independent nation in 1971. Hasina’s political career has been deeply intertwined with her father’s legacy but this conviction marks a historic and dramatic turning point in the country’s politics. Under the tribunal’s laws Hasina now faces the possibility of the death penalty while the nation braces for a tense lead up to elections as political tensions and public unrest continue to simmer.
