Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks throughout a press convention in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Jan. 6, 2014.
Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP
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Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP
DHAKA, Bangladesh — A particular tribunal sentenced Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and one in every of her shut aides to dying on prices of crimes in opposition to humanity for her crackdown on a scholar 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 based mostly in Dhaka, the capital, sentenced Hasina and former House Minister Asaduzzaman Khan to dying for his or her involvement in using lethal drive 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 underneath the nation’s present interim authorities mentioned greater than 800 individuals have been killed and about 14,000 have been injured. The United Nations in a February report estimated that as much as 1,400 could have been killed.
Hasina’s response
Hasina says the fees are unjustified, arguing that she and Khan “acted in good religion and have been attempting to attenuate the lack of life.”
“We misplaced management of the state of affairs, however to characterize what occurred as a premeditated assault on residents is solely to misinterpret the details,” she mentioned Monday in an announcement denouncing a verdict she referred to as “biased and politically motivated.”
“I mourn the entire deaths that occurred in July and August of final 12 months, on each side of the political divide,” she mentioned. “However neither I nor different political leaders ordered the killing of protesters.”
Hasina can’t attraction 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 get together 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 dwell and lasted hours.
A few of these within the packed courtroom cheered when Mazumder introduced the dying penalty for Hasina. He admonished them, telling them to specific their emotions exterior the courtroom.
Many households of the killed and the injured throughout final 12 months’s rebellion waited for hours exterior the tribunal.
Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed, at the moment in the US, mentioned in message to The Related Press that the “verdict is a joke and meaningless. My mom is secure in India. The trials have been so legally flawed they will not survive any problem as soon as rule of legislation returns to Bangladesh.”
Exile in India
In a media assertion Monday, Bangladesh’s Ministry of House 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 detailed neighbor, India stays dedicated to the very best pursuits of individuals of Bangladesh, together with in peace, democracy, inclusion and stability in that nation. We are going to all the time have interaction constructively with all stakeholders to that finish,” it mentioned.
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 current days forward of the decision.
Practically 50 arson assaults, largely concentrating on autos, and dozens of crude bombs explosions have been reported nationwide over the previous week. Two individuals 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 elements of the nation.
Hasina’s Awami League get together 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 exterior 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 gang even because the judges have been nonetheless studying out the decision.
Within the night greater than 300 individuals 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 mentioned his interim authorities would maintain the nation’s subsequent elections in February, and that Hasina’s get together wouldn’t get an opportunity to contest the race.
Bangladesh’s politics underneath Yunus has remained at a crossroads with restricted indicators of stability.
