Sheikh Hasina convicted of crimes against humanity – what we know

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by a peculiar tribunal successful Dhaka. Hasina, who is successful exile successful India, was tried successful absentia connected respective charges related to her government’s deadly crackdown connected pupil protests successful 2024.

Prosecuting Hasina was a cardinal committedness made by the interim government, which is led by the Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus.

Here is much astir Monday’s verdict, and what happens next:

What was the verdict?

The peculiar International Crimes Tribunal 1 (ICT) successful Dhaka has recovered Hasina blameworthy of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to death.

The autarkic ICT was primitively acceptable up by Hasina herself successful 2010 to analyse crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 war, which resulted successful Bangladesh’s independency from Pakistan. However, it has been criticised successful the past by quality rights organisations and her opponents who person accused her of utilizing it for politically motivated purposes portion she was successful power.

In particular, Hasina has been sentenced to decease aft being recovered blameworthy of the complaint of ordering the deployment of drones, helicopters and lethal weapons against protesters, and “by virtuousness of her order” the killings of protesters successful Chankarpul of Dhaka and successful Ashulia of Savar. Twelve protesters were killed successful these 2 areas.

“Accused premier curate Sheikh Hasina committed crimes against humanity by her incitement bid and besides nonaccomplishment to instrumentality preventive and punitive measures nether complaint 1,” the verdict stated.

“Accused Sheikh Hasina committed 1 number of crimes against humanity by her bid to usage drones, helicopters and lethal weapons nether complaint fig 2,” the tribunal said.

Additionally, the tribunal besides issued a abstracted condemnation of imprisonment until decease connected 3 different counts: incitement against protesters, issuing an bid to termination them and nonaccomplishment to forestall the atrocities and instrumentality punitive enactment against the perpetrators.

Former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, who was connected proceedings alongside Hasina, has besides been sentenced to death. Former constabulary main Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who besides faced charges, has been sentenced to 5 years successful prison.

Al-Mamun was shown leniency owed to his practice with the proceedings proceedings. He provided “material grounds to the tribunal to get astatine the close decision”, the tribunal said.

While Hasina and Khan, who is besides thought to beryllium successful India but whose whereabouts are unclear, were tried successful absentia, Al-Mamun was contiguous astatine the tribunal.

The tribunal added: “The authorities is directed to wage sizeable magnitude of compensation to the protesters acrophobic successful this case, who person been killed successful the July question 2024 and besides to instrumentality measures, to wage capable compensation to the wounded protesters, successful information of the gravity of their wounded and loss.” It is unclear who would beryllium expected to wage this compensation, however.

The verdict tin beryllium appealed to the Supreme Court.

Will Hasina and Khan beryllium extradited to Bangladesh?

It is unclear whether Hasina and Khan volition beryllium returned to Bangladesh to look justice.

Bangladesh and India signed an extradition pact successful 2013. However, the treaty says: “Extradition whitethorn beryllium refused if the offence of which it is requested is an offence of a governmental character.”

India has adjacent ties to Hasina and has not formally responded to Dhaka’s erstwhile demands for extradition.

“Under nary circumstances is India going to extradite her,” Sreeradha Datta, a prof specialising successful South Asian Studies astatine India’s Jindal Global University, told Al Jazeera. “We saw successful the past twelvemonth and a fractional that relationships betwixt India and Bangladesh are not astatine their champion and person been fragile astatine galore occasions.”

However, Ishrat Hossain, an planetary relations adept and subordinate astatine the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, told Al Jazeera the verdict would assistance Bangladesh’s lawsuit successful recovering Hasina and Khan.

“Politically and legally, the verdict strengthens Bangladesh’s manus successful pressing India to extradite Sheikh Hasina, who fled determination aft the illness of her government,” helium said. “It besides signals that the interim authorities mean to prosecute accountability beyond symbolic gestures. Socially, this is an important aboriginal measurement toward acknowledging the suffering of survivors and the families of those killed nether Hasina’s watch, adjacent if afloat justness remains a distant prospect.

“Holding the perpetrators of the police-led brutality during Bangladesh’s 2024 uprising, wherever astir 1,400 radical were killed, has been a cardinal precedence of the interim administration.”

How has Hasina reacted to the verdict?

Hasina called the verdict “politically motivated”, the AFP quality bureau reported.

“The verdicts announced against maine person been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided implicit by an unelected authorities with nary antiauthoritarian mandate. They are biased and politically motivated,” she said from India.

“I americium not acrophobic to look my accusers successful a due tribunal wherever grounds tin beryllium weighed and tested fairly.”

Who is Hasina?

Hasina, 78, is the girl of Bangladesh’s founding father, erstwhile President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. After a 1971 war, Bangladesh declared independency and divided from Pakistan.

In 1975, Rahman was assassinated successful a subject coup, ushering successful a play of subject and quasi-military rule.

Hasina led a pro-democracy uprising that ousted subject ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad successful 1990. Hasina came to powerfulness successful 1996 arsenic person of the now-banned Awami League party. The Awami League, founded successful 1949, is simply a centre-left enactment with roots successful Bengali nationalism and secularism. The enactment receives beardown backing from those who supported the 1971 war.

Her archetypal word arsenic premier curate ended successful 2001 aft her enactment mislaid the wide predetermination to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia. Hasina became premier curate again successful 2009 and remained successful the presumption for 15 years until August 2024 erstwhile pupil protests forced her retired of powerfulness and she fled to India. Bangladesh does not person a acceptable law word bounds for premiers.

Since Hasina was deposed, Bangladesh has been led by an interim authorities nether Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. Elections for a caller parliament are expected to instrumentality spot successful aboriginal 2026.

In May, the interim authorities revoked the Awami League’s registration and prohibited its governmental activities, citing nationalist information concerns and ongoing warfare crimes investigations against elder members.

Why was Hasina tried implicit pupil protests?

On July 1, 2024, Bangladeshis led mostly by students and different young radical took to the streets to protest against a High Court determination to reinstate a argumentation reserving one-third of civilian work positions for descendants of those who fought successful the 1971 war.

By July 19, the protests had escalated, a telecommunications blackout was imposed and the service was deployed to ace down connected protesters. Student protesters were besides attacked by Awami League’s pupil wing, the Bangladesh Chhatra League. Thousands of students fought with equipped constabulary successful Dhaka, and astir 1,400 radical were killed, according to estimates by the United Nations.

The tribunal heard ample grounds that Hasina’s forces were ordered to occurrence connected unarmed protesters.

During its ain investigations since then, Al Jazeera besides discovered concealed telephone telephone recordings successful which Hasina “issued an unfastened order” to “use lethal weapons” connected students protesting against her government’s policies past twelvemonth and sprout “wherever they find them”.

Who was connected the tribunal?

The ICT has 3 members and was headed by a retired territory tribunal judge, Justice Golam Murtaza Mazumdar.

In December, the Awami League criticised Mazumdar’s assignment arsenic president of the tribunal successful an X post, saying: “Golam Murtaza Mazumdar retired successful 2019 and has not served arsenic a justice for 5 years. Despite this, helium has been elevated to the presumption of an appellate part justice arsenic the Tribunal’s chairman.”

The different 2 members of the tribunal were Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury and Shofiul Alam Mahmood.

Even though the tribunal was established by Hasina herself, members of her enactment person called it a “kangaroo court”, a derogatory word for a tribunal oregon tribunal that ignores recognised standards of instrumentality and justice, often delivering predetermined oregon biased outcomes.

Is the tribunal fair?

In October 2024, the ICT issued an apprehension warrant for Hasina and 45 others, including erstwhile ministers.

“The tribunal has … ordered the apprehension of erstwhile premier curate Sheikh Hasina and to nutrient her successful tribunal connected November 18,” Mohammad Tajul Islam, the ICT’s main prosecutor, told reporters successful October 2024.

“Sheikh Hasina was astatine the helm of those who committed massacres, killings and crimes against humanity successful July to August,” helium added.

A authorities lawyer was appointed to support Hasina and the 2 others connected trial.

In October 2024, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a missive urging the interim authorities to amend the International Crimes (Tribunal) Act to guarantee a just and impartial judicial process.

An HRW connection alleged that the tribunal has “previously been fraught with violations of just proceedings standards. This included nonaccomplishment of grounds gathering, deficiency of independency of judges including collusion with prosecutors, witnesser tampering, denying due rights to defense, forcibly disappearing relatives of the accused, and the usage of the decease penalty.”

HRW urged the interim authorities to suspend and enactment to abolish the decease punishment successful enactment with planetary quality rights standards, amend laws to safeguard owed process rights of the accused and found a well-resourced witnesser and unfortunate extortion portion susceptible of safeguarding individuals and their families before, during and aft testimony.

How did the tribunal proceed?

Arrest warrants for Hasina and Khan were again issued successful June aft the brace failed to look earlier the tribunal successful November 2024. They were formally charged connected July 10. Al-Mamun pleaded blameworthy connected the aforesaid time and agreed to go a authorities witness, agreeing to attest for the prosecution.

Testimony was heard from August 3 to October 8. Final arguments concluded betwixt October 12 and October 23.

The tribunal examined a trove of grounds against Hasina: 14 volumes of documents spanning astir 10,000 pages, including authoritative reports, aesculapian and postmortem records, ballistic data, formation logs and media footage; 93 documentary exhibits and 32 carnal exhibits, specified arsenic ammunition, clothing, recordings and tract reports; and grounds from much than 80 witnesses, including survivors, doctors, organisers and investigators with 54 testifying successful court.

Security was tightened successful Dhaka earlier Monday’s verdict, particularly astir the ICT and the surrounding Supreme Court area. Police and paramilitary forces – including the Rapid Action Battalion, Border Guard Bangladesh and service units – were deployed.

A “shoot-at-sight” bid was issued for anyone engaged successful arson, attacks involving explosives oregon unit earlier the verdict successful Dhaka and different parts of Bangladesh.

What happens next?

“This determination marks a important inflection constituent successful Bangladeshi politics, 1 that could trigger heightened volatility successful the run-up to the February 2026 nationalist election,” Hossain told Al Jazeera.

Hossain said that portion the Awami League is present banned from participating successful elections, the enactment retains a large, profoundly embedded activistic basal that is apt to mobilise, perchance done disruptive and convulsive protests.

“Such confrontations hazard re-creating the aforesaid patterns of repression and lethal unit utilized by the instrumentality enforcers that the interim authorities present seeks to adjudicate.”

Crucially, however, astir 15 cardinal Bangladeshis surviving abroad, galore of whom came retired to protestation successful solidarity with the students successful 2024 – often risking imprisonment successful the countries they unrecorded successful – person present been fixed the means to ballot by station for the archetypal time. Many analysts deliberation their votes could sway elections due to the fact that they present relationship for astir 10 percent of the nation’s electorate.

Hossain said instability is apt successful the abbreviated word but it is unclear what volition hap successful the agelong term.

“The short-term outlook is, therefore, turbulent. The longer-term implications – whether this ushers successful a sustained displacement toward accountability oregon entrenches different rhythm of politicised justness – stay uncertain and volition hinge connected however some authorities institutions and governmental parties navigate the coming months.”