Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. File | Photo Credit: Reuters
Ms. Hasina, 78, defied court docket orders that she return from India to attend her trial about whether or not she ordered a lethal crackdown towards the student-led rebellion that ousted her.
She was discovered responsible and sentenced to demise earlier on Monday.
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“The verdicts introduced towards me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected authorities with no democratic mandate,” Ms. Hasina stated in a press release issued from hiding in India.
“They are biased and politically motivated.”
Critics accused her of jailing political rivals, enacting harsh anti-press legal guidelines, and overseeing widespread human rights abuses, together with the killing of opposition activists.
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But the trial centred across the 1,400 individuals who have been killed between July and August 2024, in keeping with the United Nations.
Ms. Hasina was assigned a state-appointed lawyer for the trial, however she refused to recognise the court docket’s authority and stated she rejected all prices.
“Its responsible verdict towards me was a foregone conclusion,” Ms. Hasina added within the assertion, claiming she can be keen to attend a recent trial exterior her residence nation.
“I’m not afraid to face my accusers in a correct tribunal the place the proof may be weighed and examined pretty,” she stated.
“That is why I’ve repeatedly challenged the interim authorities to convey these prices earlier than the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.”
Bangladesh’s overseas ministry summoned India’s envoy to Dhaka this month, demanding that New Delhi block the “infamous fugitive” Hasina from speaking to journalists and “granting her a platform to spew hatred”.
The International Crisis Group stated the “political repercussions of this verdict are vital”.
“The course of has not been with out critics,” ICG analyst Thomas Kean stated.
“In absentia trials are sometimes a supply of rivalry, and on this case the velocity with which the hearings have been carried out and the obvious lack of sources for the defence additionally elevate questions of equity… But they shouldn’t be used to downplay or deflect from Sheikh Hasina’s actions”.
Mr. Kean added: “The prospect of Sheikh Hasina mounting a political comeback in Bangladesh now seems very slim”.
Published – November 17, 2025 03:26 pm IST
