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The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been sentenced to death for human rights violations due to her crackdown on protests led by students which caused her forced departure.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of permitting fatal actions to be used against activists, among whom around 1,400 people were killed during the disturbances in the previous year.

Legal proceedings were conducted in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being responsible for multiple fatalities during the protests. Hasina has denied the entire case, calling the trial as "biased and politically motivated".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over long-standing suppression. Next of kin of victims and injured had called for severe punishments.

Answering the judgment in a comprehensive declaration, she expressed the death penalty was the caretaker administration's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a electoral entity and that she was content of her leadership's history on individual freedoms.

"I am not afraid to confront those accusing me in a fair court where the evidence can be weighed and examined justly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under increased safeguards before the decision on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics organizing a demonstration and celebrating as the sentence was declared.

Dhaka experienced a sudden increase in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and public transport vehicles burned in the period preceding the verdict.

One explosive incident was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, local police official the authorities' representative stated to news organizations.

The student-led uprising last year began with calls to eliminate state employment quotas but transformed into a broader opposition campaign.

UN human rights investigators stated in a document in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could constitute "human rights atrocities".

The paper detailed the gunfire from minimal distance of a number of activists, the deliberate maiming of others, unwarranted detentions and abuse.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina verified by media examinations in previous months 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 fatally injured in the unrest told press outlets they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

One relative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and exploited their positions".

Another relative, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "carried out before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the kin of victims [in the protests] will find peace in their minds."

Following her removal, an temporary leadership headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A parliamentary election is set for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the her former political organization, Hasina's political party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

Hasina warned in the previous month that if the her faction's nominees were prohibited from running in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the ballot.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. Dhaka has formally requested her repatriation but to date India has shown no willingness to acquiesce.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer her legal counsel said he was "disappointed and hoping the decision had been otherwise".

"I even cannot appeal because my represented individuals are away; that's why I am disheartened," he added.

Last week, Hasina's lawyers said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN pointing out significant due process and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial in conjunction with her former home minister and police chief.

Even though the verdict offers some closure to kin of victims in the protests, it may do little to soothe the country's political divisions.

"The anger against the former leader and the her political party has not decreased," a Dhaka-based rights activist told media outlets. "Neither she nor the party has said sorry or shown any remorse for the deaths of numerous individuals."

The advocate declared "This complicates matters for the faction to gain approval by a most citizens in this nation."

The advocate continued that the sentence was not finality for the kin of those killed and injured.

"We support several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, as a result of the harsh measures. They cannot pardon her."

David Bergman, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it increasingly challenging" for Awami League to become a regular participant of Bangladeshi politics again.

This may change if "a form of contrition emerges and a separation from the former leader and the former hierarchy," he stated.