Hasina, 78, who has been living in India since her government was toppled on August 5 last year, was sentenced by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD)
Police use tear gas to disperse protesters outside the demolished residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s former leader and the father of Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka on Monday. Pic/AP/PTI
Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal for “crimes against humanity” committed during the wide-spread protests against her government in July last year. Hasina, 78, who has been living in India since her government was toppled on August 5 last year, was sentenced by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD).
The ICT also sentenced to death former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal in absentia and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who turned state witness, to five years of imprisonment in the same case. A defiant Hasina, meanwhile, charged that the judgement has been made by a “rigged tribunal” established and presided over by an “unelected government with no democratic mandate”.
“I wholly deny the accusations that have been made against me in the ICT,” she said in a statement. “They are biased and politically motivated. In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove the last prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League.”
Bangladesh urged India to immediately extradite deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Kamal, hours after the verdict. It said that India was obliged to do so under an extradition treaty. The Ministry of External Affairs responded saying India has taken note of the verdict and remains committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh.
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