Sheikh Hasina calls the verdict "biased" :::: Bangladesh court convicts former PM :::: Bangladesh founder Mujib's daughter Sheikh Hasina found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to #death

Can the 'Kangaroo court' verdict put India under pressure to extradite Sheikh Hasina ?

In all likelihood, India will not oblige the Yunus regime.

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The highly anticipated ruling, which was broadcast live on national television, comes ahead of the first polls since her overthrow in August 2024.

"All the... elements constituting crimes against humanity have been fulfilled," judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder read to the packed court in Dhaka.

Hasina was "found guilty on three counts," including incitement, order to kill, and inaction to prevent the atrocities, Mozumder said.

"We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence — that is, sentence of death."

Former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, also a fugitive, was also sentenced to death after being found guilty on four counts of crimes against humanity.

 

Bangladesh court convicts Sheikh Hasina of crimes against humanity 

Sheikh Hasina found guilty of crimes against #humanity and sentenced to #death 

Sheikh Hasina calls the verdict "biased"

Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Hasina has condemned the Dhaka court verdict as "biased and politically motivated".

The death penalty is the interim government's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League as a political force", she said in a five-page statement released after the verdict.

Hasina, who is in exile in India, had earlier called the trial a "farce" and denied all the charges against her.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly," she said, adding that she had challenged the interim government to bring these charges before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

She noted that she is "very proud of [her] government's record on human rights and development".

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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 was tried in her absence as she is living in exile in India, where she has been since being forced from power

Arguments for and against the maximum penalty: 

The Chief Justice of the Tribunal, Golam Mortuza Majumdar, read the last part of the verdict. The arguments focused on for and against the maximum penalty for the three accused, including Sheikh Hasina. 

The Tribunal has given a detailed account of the background of the quota reform movement, the attack on Dhaka University students and the subsequent shooting of the protesters.

(The information including audio and video that has been presented to the Tribunal during the trial is described. What the victims and witnesses of the incident said is described.)

Sheikh Hasina's phone conversations are played: 

Earlier, various parts of reports published by various international organizations on human rights violations during the movement were read out. 

At around 1:15 pm (local time)  Sheikh Hasina's phone conversations with various people during the mass uprising were played. 

The phone conversations of the then Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu with Sheikh Hasina were played.

This is the first case filed in connection with crimes against humanity, including murders during the mass uprising, and the verdict is going to be delivered today.

Count-1 charged the defendants with murder, attempted murder, torture, and other inhumane acts. They were accused of abetting, inciting, facilitating, being complicit in, and failing to prevent crimes committed against civilians by law enforcement and armed cadres of the Awami League and its affiliates.

Count-2 charges include ordering the use of lethal weapons, helicopters, and drones to subdue student protesters, with the accused allegedly guilty of superior command responsibility, complicity, facilitation, and conspiracy.

Count-3 

relates to the murder of Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayed on July 16, where they issued orders, incited, abetted, facilitated, conspired and were complicit in the crime.

Count-4 

accuses the defendants of orchestrating the murder of six unarmed protesters in the capital's Chankharpul on August 5 by direct order, incitement, abetment, facilitation, complicity, and conspiracy.

Count-5 

Concerns the shooting dead of five protesters and the injury of another. It also accuses the three of burning the five dead bodies and another protester alive, with the defendants allegedly involved through complicity, facilitation, and instigation.

The killings of hundreds of people, including children, infuriated Bangladeshis.

She was ousted on Aug 5, 2024. More than a year later, neither Sheikh Hasina nor the Awami League have apologised or expressed remorse for what had happened, causing lot of seething anger.

In comments to the BBC last week, Hasina described the trial in her absence as a "kangaroo court"

The families of hundreds of those killed and injured want justice. Police have used stun grenades to disperse protesters who had marched on a property associated with Sheikh Hasina's family, with soldiers now being deployed on the streets.

A large crowd had gathered at Dhanmondi 32, the home of the ousted prime minister's father and a focal point for protests in recent months.

There are a large number of police here attempting to push the crowd back.