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The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been given a death sentence for crimes against humanity due to her harsh response on protests led by students which caused her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of authorizing deadly measures to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals were killed during the disturbances during 2024.

Legal proceedings were conducted without her presence by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being the mastermind of numerous deaths during the protests. The former leader rejected the entire case, calling the trial as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The verdict marks a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests brought forth resentment over years of repression. Relatives of the deceased and injured had called for strict sentences.

Answering the judgment in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was proud of her government's record on human rights.

"I have no trepidation to face my accusers in a just legal forum where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under increased safeguards ahead of the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics holding a protest and celebrating as the verdict was read.

The capital witnessed a notable rise in disturbances, with dozens of bombs exploded and public transport vehicles burned in the time before the verdict.

One explosive incident was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, local police official Jisanul Haque told news organizations.

The youth-driven revolt in the previous year started with demands to abolish state employment quotas but morphed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

United Nations rights examiners declared in an analysis in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could represent "violations of human dignity".

The study recorded the shooting at point-blank range of some protesters, the deliberate maiming of additional individuals, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Unauthorized recordings of a call made by the former leader verified by investigative sources during the current year implied she had authorized the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the legal process.

Before the decision, family members of those who died in the demonstrations told news agencies they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for her and co-accused who have "performed revengeful deeds and misused their authority".

Lucky Akther, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "executed before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the kin of victims [in the protests] will obtain solace in their souls."

Since Hasina's ousting, an temporary leadership led by economic expert Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A general election is scheduled for February 2026.

However, the Hasina's political party, the former ruling party, was banned by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

She alerted in the previous month that if the her faction's nominees were barred from participating in the imminent electoral process, numerous would avoid the vote.

The verdict now poses a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. Authorities have sought her return but until now India has demonstrated no inclination to acquiesce.

Her officially designated attorney Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "sad [and wishes] the verdict had been different".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; for that reason I am disappointed," he continued.

The previous week, Hasina's lawyers said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN raising serious fair trial and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Hasina was tried together with her ex-interior minister and police chief.

Although the punishment provides certain resolution to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may do little to soothe the nation's partisan rifts.

"The anger against Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not decreased," a Dhaka-based rights activist stated to press agencies. "Neither she nor the party has expressed regret or shown any remorse for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "This complicates matters for the organization to receive endorsement by a bulk of the population in this nation."

The campaigner further stated that the punishment was not resolution for the relatives of those who died and were wounded.

"We work with multiple individuals who lost their limbs forever, they are now disabled, as a result of the harsh measures. They cannot pardon her."

An analyst, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for her party to become a regular participant of the nation's political landscape again.

This could alter if "there is some kind of apology and a distancing from Sheikh Hasina and the old leadership," he stated.