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The country's previous leader has been sentenced to death for human rights violations due to her crackdown on protests led by students which led to her ousting.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against activists, with approximately 1,400 individuals were killed during the disturbances in the previous year.

The trial proceeded in absentia by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being behind hundreds of killings during the protests. Hasina has denied the entire case, calling the trial as "biased and politically motivated".

This judgment represents a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over extended periods of oppression. Families of those killed and harmed had requested strict sentences.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, the former leader stated the death penalty was the interim government's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was content of her administration's performance on human rights.

"I do not fear to confront those accusing me in a just legal forum where the facts can be assessed and examined justly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under tightened security before the ruling on Monday, with several of her detractors staging a rally and celebrating as the judgment was announced.

The capital witnessed a notable rise in unrest, with numerous incendiary devices set off and coaches ignited in the days leading up to the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, regional security representative the authorities' representative told press agencies.

The youth-driven revolt during 2024 started with demands to abolish government job quotas but transformed into a broader opposition campaign.

United Nations rights examiners said in a report in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could constitute "human rights atrocities".

The study recorded the shooting at point-blank range of certain demonstrators, the purposeful disabling of additional individuals, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Unauthorized recordings of a telephone conversation involving Hasina confirmed by investigative sources earlier this year suggested she had sanctioned the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the trial.

Before the decision, family members of those killed during the protests informed press outlets they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

Ramjan Ali, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and exploited their positions".

A different family member, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "carried out before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the families of those killed [in the protests] will achieve closure in their hearts."

Since Hasina's ousting, an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A parliamentary election is planned for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the Hasina's political party, Hasina's political party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

Hasina warned last month that if the party's candidates were prohibited from running in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the ballot.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for the neighboring countries. Authorities have sought her return but so far India has shown no willingness to comply.

The legal representative assigned to her Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "unhappy and desiring the outcome had varied".

"I am unable to challenge because my clients are absent; for that reason I am sad," he stated further.

Last week, the defense attorneys said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN highlighting serious fair trial and due process issues at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial alongside her former home minister and top law enforcement officer.

Although the punishment offers some closure to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the country's political divisions.

"The fury directed at Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League has not subsided," a Dhaka-based rights activist informed news organizations. "The leader and her faction has said sorry or displayed repentance for the fatalities of countless citizens."

The activist stated "This complicates matters for the organization to receive endorsement by a majority of people in this nation."

The advocate continued that the sentence was not finality for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We work with several people who suffered permanent amputations, they are now disabled, because of the suppression. They are incapable of excusing her."

An analyst, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it even more difficult" for Awami League to become a regular participant of the country's governance system again.

This could alter if "a form of contrition emerges and a separation from Sheikh Hasina and the former hierarchy," he stated.