Former Bangladesh leader sentenced to death for crackdown on uprising that ousted her
Published:Monday | November 17, 2025 | 9:37 PM
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and one of her close aides were sentenced to death Monday over her crackdown on a student uprising last year that killed hundreds of people and led to the toppling of her 15-year rule.
The International Crimes Tribunal based in Dhaka, the capital, passed sentence on Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan for their involvement in the use of deadly force against protesters.
Hasina and Khan, who fled to India last year, were sentenced in absentia.
India has so far declined to extradite them, making it unlikely that they would ever be executed or imprisoned.
Hasina, who was convicted on five charges of crimes against humanity, was also sentenced to prison until natural death for making inflammatory remarks and ordering the extermination of student protesters through the use of helicopters, drones, and lethal weapons.
A third suspect, a former police chief, was sentenced to five years in prison after becoming a state witness against Hasina and pleading guilty.
More than 800 people were killed and about 14,000 were injured in the student-led uprising in July and August of 2024, according to the health adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government. However, the United Nations in February estimated as many as 1,400 people were killed.
Hasina said the charges were unjustified, arguing that she and Khan “acted in good faith and were trying to minimize the loss of life.”
“We lost control of the situation, but to characterize what happened as a premeditated assault on citizens is simply to misread the facts,” she said Monday in a statement denouncing a verdict she called “biased and politically motivated.”
Her Awami League party called for a national shutdown on Tuesday to protest the verdict.
Hasina, 78, cannot appeal the verdict unless she surrenders or is arrested within 30 days of the judgment.
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