Arakan News Agency
A court in Bangladesh on Monday issued a death sentence in absentia against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, after convicting her of ordering the use of lethal force to suppress a bloody student uprising last year.
The court also sentenced former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman to death, while a former police chief received five years in prison after turning “state witness” and admitting his role in the events.
After a trial that lasted several months, the court concluded that Hasina ordered violence against protesters, resulting in hundreds of deaths, while a UN report estimated that the number of casualties may have reached 1,400.
The sentence comes 15 months after Hasina fled to India following her resignation. From her exile in India, she denied the charges, describing the ruling as “biased and politically motivated,” and affirmed her willingness to appear before a fair court.
Sheikh Hasina, 78, is considered one of South Asia’s most prominent political figures, having led Bangladesh through five consecutive terms. She is credited with improving the economy and boosting the ready-made garment industry, and has received international praise for sheltering hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar.
However, protests that began against the job quota system and later evolved into a widespread movement demanding her removal led to the collapse of her rule and her ousting from power just months after her latest electoral victory.
During her long tenure, her government was accused of carrying out widespread arrests of opposition leaders and suppressing dissenting voices.
