Sheikh Hasina Gets Death Penalty for 'Crimes against Humanity'

Nov 17, 2025 – A Bangladesh Court has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death finding her guilty of committing crimes against humanity during the student uprising in July 2024 which saw the death of reportedly 1,400 people in the country.

Additionally, former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has been sentenced to death in the same case while, former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun was sentenced to five-years in prison in connection with the charges as he had pleaded guilty in July.

The five charges listed against the 78-year-old former Prime Minister are -

• Orchestrating mass killings of protesters in Dhaka
• Use of helicopters and drones to fire on civilian crowds
• Murder of student activist Abu Sayed
• Incineration of bodies in Ashulia to destroy evidence
• Coordinated killing of demonstrators in Chankharpul

The verdict was delivered on Monday by the country’s three-member International Crimes Tribunal headed by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder amid tight security in Dhaka and around with paramilitary border guards and police being deployed. Hasina has been found guilty of delivering inflammatory speech and ordering the arbitrary use of lethal force against the protestors who were demanding the reform of quotas in government jobs. Hasina, then PM of Bangladesh, has been accused of being actively involved in directing the brutal crackdown on the students, being described as the “mastermind and principal architect” of the alleged atrocities.

Sheikh Hasina has been in New Delhi since August 5, 2024, after she resigned and fled the country following a mass student-led uprising. She has rejected the death sentence verdict calling it “rigged” and “politically motivated”, adding she was not given a fair chance to represent herself.

As per the ICT (Bangladesh) law, Hasina cannot appeal the verdict unless she returns to Bangladesh or is arrested within 30 days.

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