Bangladesh court sentences ex-PM Sheikh Hasina to death on charges of crimes against humanity

A special tribunal sentenced Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death on charges of crimes against humanity involving last year's mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule.

The reading of the verdict on Monday from the tribunal in the capital, Dhaka, was broadcast live.

The interim government beefed up security ahead of the verdict, with soldiers, paramilitary border guards and police deployed in Dhaka and many other parts of the country.

Hasina's Awami League party has called for a nationwide shutdown to protest the verdict.

Hasina, who has been in exile in India, was tried in absentia.

She has called the tribunal a "kangaroo court" and denounced the appointment of a lawyer by the state to represent her.

Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan faced charges of crimes against humanity for the killing of hundreds of people during a student-led uprising in July and August of 2024.

The United Nations in a February report said up to 1,400 may have been killed in the violence, while the country's health adviser under the interim government said more than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured. Both of them are being tried in absentia.

The tribunal last week fixed Monday for delivering the verdict as reports of explosions of crude bombs and arson led to the disruption of classes and transportation across the country after the "lockdown" called for by Hasina's party.

As the tribunal was set to convene Monday morning, the former ruling party called for the shutdown again, with Hasina in an audio message urging her supporters not to be "nervous" about the verdict. Hasina has survived at least 19 assassination attempts during her decades-long political career since 1981.