Ex-Bangladesh PM Hasina sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity

DHAKA -- A special tribunal in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka Monday sentenced Bangladesh's ousted ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in absentia to death for crimes against humanity during the country's July uprising in 2024.

Bangladesh's former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was also awarded the death penalty, while former Inspector General of Bangladesh Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in the case.

The three-member International Crimes Tribunal, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, started reading portions of the judgment at a packed courtroom.

The tribunal has ordered 78-year-old Hasina to return from India and face trial. She is accused of ordering a violent police response to a student protest, which led to her being removed from power last year.

While Kamal remains a fugitive, his co-accused Mamun, in custody, has pleaded guilty and become the tribunal's first state witness since its establishment in 2010.