Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death
A special tribunal found she was responsible for ordering a violent crackdown on student-led protests last year, during which the UN estimates up to 1,400 people died, most by gunfire from security forces
Hasina has called the court’s decision “biased and politically motivated” in a statement released after the verdict. She was tried in her absence and has been living in exile in India since being forced from power
The verdict will put India under pressure to extradite Hasina but it is unlikely to do so
Security has been ramped up across Bangladesh over fears of a backlash, with some protests already breaking out this morning.
Sheikh Hasina’s sentence will be “effective from the day of arrest”, Bangladesh’s attorney general has said.
As we’ve been reporting, Hasina was tried in absentia by a special tribunal. She has been in exile in India.
Her state-appointed lawyer Mohammad Amir Hossain says he is “sad [and wishes] the verdict had been different”.
“I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; that’s why I am sad,” he adds.
