Crackdown on students, death sentence for Sheikh Hasina Wajid

   Crackdown on students, death sentence for Sheikh Hasina Wajid

A Bangladesh court has sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death for ordering a crackdown on student protests. 

According to the British news agency Reuters, the verdict, delivered on Monday after several months of hearings, also found her “committed crimes against humanity” and “responsible for ordering a deadly crackdown” on student protests last year.

Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party has been barred from participating in elections and there are fears that further unrest will spread in the country after the decision.

The International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka delivered the verdict amid tight security.

According to the report, the verdict can be appealed to the Supreme Court.

However, Hasina Wajid’s son Sajib Wajid told Reuters that he would not appeal the verdict until an elected government takes power through a democratic process that includes the Awami League.

A day earlier, Sajib Wajid had warned that if the ban on the Awami League was not lifted, Awami League supporters would not allow elections in February and the protests could turn violent.

On the other hand, Hasina Wajid has once again denied the allegations, calling them politically motivated.

A United Nations report estimates that 1,400 people were killed and thousands more injured in anti-government protests between July 15 and August 5 last year, most of them in firing by security forces.

The incidents are seen as the worst political violence since Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence.

Bangladesh, with a population of more than 170 million, is one of the world’s largest garment exporters, supplying goods to major global brands. The industry was also badly hit by last year’s protests.

Hasina Wajid fled Bangladesh to India in August 2024 and is now living in exile in Delhi.

Sajib Wajid continued, “What can they do to my mother, she is in India where she is being provided with full protection.”

A spokesman for the interim government, which works for Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, denied “political motives in the case,” saying the court had acted transparently and allowed observers to publish its documents.

Hasina Wajid told Reuters in October that she could move freely in Delhi under security.

Her parents and three brothers were killed in a 1975 military coup, and she and her sister were out of the country at the time.

Sajib Wajid also said he would not appeal until a democratically elected government, including the Awami League, took power.

The party’s registration was suspended in May after the interim government banned its political activities, citing threats to national security and an investigation into war crimes against its senior leadership.

According to Sajib Wajid, ‘We will not allow elections without the Awami League, our protest is getting stronger and stronger, as long as the international community does nothing, we will do whatever we have to do. There may be violence and clashes before the elections.’

On the other hand, the government spokesperson said that there is no plan under consideration to lift the ban on the Awami League.

According to the spokesperson, ‘The interim government considers any kind of provocation, especially the action taken by the exiled leadership, as highly irresponsible and condemnable.’

He said that ‘there is no room for talks for the Awami League at the moment because it is refusing to repent and accept accountability for the crimes against humanity committed during its tenure, including the case under the International Crimes Tribunal.’

It should be noted that even before today's verdict, tensions were rising in Bangladesh, and several improvised explosive devices were also used in Dhaka on Sunday.