#JustIn: Hasina Found Guilty in Absentia for Student Uprising Crackdown; UN Says Up to 1,400 Killed
Ex-PM convicted in absentia as nation braces for violence.
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) on Monday delivered a historic verdict, convicting deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in absentia of crimes against humanity for her role in the brutal suppression of the 2024 student-led uprising that claimed hundreds of lives and ultimately toppled her 15-year Awami League regime. The three-judge bench declared that the former premier deserves the “maximum punishment” under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, after state prosecutors explicitly demanded capital punishment.
Evidence presented before the tribunal included authenticated audio recordings in which Hasina personally ordered lethal force, including the use of helicopters, drones, and live ammunition against unarmed protesters. In one chilling conversation with Dhaka University’s Vice-Chancellor on the night of July 14, 2024, she reportedly declared: “I have hanged Razakars before, these protesters will also be hanged — none will be spared.” The bench highlighted how Hasina’s derogatory labelling of students as “Razakars” (a term for 1971 collaborators) further inflamed nationwide fury.
Alongside Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun were also convicted for jointly planning and executing the deadly crackdown. The United Nations has estimated up to 1,400 deaths, while the interim government claims over 800 killed and 14,000 injured. With Hasina having fled to India on August 5, 2024, and the other two defendants either in exile or custody, the trial proceeded entirely on documentary and forensic evidence.
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Dhaka and major cities remained under heavy security on verdict day, with army troops requested around tribunal premises, paramilitary forces on standby, and police authorised to shoot arsonists on sight following a week of crude bomb explosions and vehicle torchings. Hasina’s Awami League called for a nationwide shutdown, denouncing the ICT-BD as a “kangaroo court” orchestrated by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration, while crude bombs exploded across the capital in protest.
As Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus vows to hold elections in February 2026 but has already banned Awami League from contesting, Monday’s conviction dramatically escalates pressure on India to extradite Hasina and marks the most serious legal threat ever faced by the once-untouchable strongwoman who survived at least 19 assassination attempts during her decades in power.
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