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The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been handed capital punishment for human rights violations stemming from her harsh response on protests led by students which resulted in her removal from power.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals were killed during the unrest in the previous year.

Hasina was tried without her presence by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being responsible for multiple fatalities during the protests. She has refuted all charges, labeling the proceedings as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The verdict marks a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over long-standing suppression. Relatives of the deceased and injured had demanded strict sentences.

Answering the judgment in a comprehensive declaration, the former leader stated the execution sentence was the caretaker administration's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was satisfied of her government's record on human rights.

"I have no trepidation to face my accusers in a just legal forum where the evidence can be weighed and examined justly."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under tightened security ahead of the decision on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina organizing a demonstration and celebrating as the verdict was read.

The city has seen a recent spike in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and coaches ignited in the time before the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, area law enforcement officer the authorities' representative stated to media outlets.

The student-led uprising in the previous year commenced through requests to remove government job quotas but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.

International human rights monitors declared in an analysis in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could represent "human rights atrocities".

The report documented the gunfire from minimal distance of certain demonstrators, the deliberate maiming of additional individuals, unjustified apprehensions and abuse.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina verified by external reviews during the current year suggested she had approved the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the trial.

Ahead of the verdict, relatives of those killed during the protests informed press outlets they wanted the former leader to face strict penalties.

A family representative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for the former leader and associates who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and abused their power".

A different family member, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "implemented before the election".

"Only then the kin of victims [in the protests] will obtain solace in their minds."

Since Hasina's ousting, an temporary leadership led by economist Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A national vote is scheduled for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the Awami League, Hasina's political party, was banned by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

Hasina warned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were barred from participating in the imminent electoral process, countless would abstain the election.

The verdict now poses a international dilemma for the neighboring countries. Authorities have sought her repatriation but to date India has expressed no readiness to agree.

Her officially designated attorney her legal counsel said he was "disappointed and hoping the outcome had varied".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; which is why I am disheartened," he continued.

The previous week, Hasina's lawyers said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN highlighting major judicial fairness and due process issues at the ICT.

Hasina was tried in conjunction with her previous domestic affairs official and top law enforcement officer.

Although the punishment offers some closure to kin of victims in the protests, it may do little to soothe the nation's partisan rifts.

"The fury directed at Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not decreased," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to media outlets. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or displayed repentance for the killings of hundreds of people."

The advocate declared "This complicates matters for the party to be accepted by a majority of people in this country."

The advocate continued that the punishment was not resolution for the families of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We work with numerous persons who lost their limbs forever, they are currently without limbs, due to the crackdown. They will never be able to forgive her."

An analyst, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "fundamental aspect of the condemnation could make it particularly hard" for the political faction to become a normal feature of the country's governance system again.

This could alter if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from the former leader and the former hierarchy," he said.