Ousted Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death for crimes against humanity

November 18, 2025

DHAKA – In its first judgment on crimes against humanity committed during the July uprising, International Crimes Tribunal-1 yesterday sentenced deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death.

The Awami League chief was found guilty of incitement, abetment, inaction, conspiracy, and superior command responsibility that led to the murder and torture of protesters nationwide.

The three-judge panel said the five-time premier received imprisonment until natural death for one charge, and death for another, which included the murder of six protesters in Chankharpul and another six in Ashulia.

Former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was also sentenced to death, while former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who testified as an approver, was given five years in prison.

Mamun, the first accused to become a state witness in an ICT trial, remains in custody and has pleaded guilty.

The former IGP sat in the dock with his head bowed, tears streaming down his face as the tribunal chair announced his sentence.

Hasina and Asaduzzaman remain fugitives since they fled to India following the ouster of the Awami League government on August 5 last year.

As the death penalty was pronounced at 2:50pm, around 40 family members of martyrs, wounded victims and movement organisers burst into applause, some crying “Alhamdulillah.” Zartaj Parveen, mother of July martyr Shafiq Uddin Ahmed Ahnaf, who had been sitting silently in the packed gallery, began to weep.

Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman urged the crowd to maintain court decorum.

Reading portions of the 453-page judgment over two and a half hours from 12:30pm, tribunal chief Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder said, “As prime minister, Sheikh Hasina exercised ultimate authority over the law-enforcement chain — from the home minister to the inspector general of police. Given the pattern of impunity, the ongoing student protests, and the role of state and ruling party actors in the alleged atrocities, it is evident that she could not have been ignorant of these events.”

“Accused prime minister Sheikh Hasina, accused home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and accused inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al- Mamun acted jointly in connivance and collaboration with each other and committed atrocities in order to kill protesters across the country,” said the tribunal chair.

The court premises and surrounding area were under tight security from early morning. With arson and crude bomb attacks in recent days, security had already been heightened nationwide.

Injured protesters and families of July martyrs gathered outside, demanding that the government ask India to send Hasina back.

In his reaction to the verdict, state-appointed defence lawyer Amir Hossain said he accepted it but was “angry and deeply hurt” by the outcome. “The verdict could have been different. But it wasn’t. That is why I am angry.”

Hasina, meanwhile, in a statement said the verdict was “biased and politically motivated”. “I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where evidence can be weighed and tested fairly,” Reuters quoted her as saying.

After the verdict, ICT Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam told reporters, “The evidence would stand up to scrutiny in any court of the world and was sufficient to prove Hasina’s guilt. And it would have secured the same verdict.”

The tribunal chair said the evidence against the 78-year-old leader was convincing. Citing testimonies from victims, ex-IGP Mamun and the investigation officer, he said, “It has ostensibly been substantiated that the atrocities of killing and gravely injuring the protesting students and public took place almost all over the country.”

Quoting the IO’s findings that atrocities occurred in 50 districts and lethal weapons were used in 41, he added, “… Thus, it is clear that the attack in question was directed against the civilian population and it was widespread and systematic.”

The judgment details the prosecution’s case, the defence submissions, the evidence presented, and the tribunal’s findings, including witness testimonies, video footage, reports of national and international human rights bodies, and newspaper reports.

It also documents the “extent of cruelty” endured by the victims killed, seriously injured, or permanently disabled during the July 2024 uprising.

On the contested casualty figures, the chair noted the wide disparities — government gazettes, UN assessments, and other reports place deaths at 800; 1,000; or 1,400. He said such variations were “natural” in mass-atrocity situations, adding that even post-1971 lists remain incomplete.

The judgment also analyses police communications and top-down directives during the protests, and records the arguments of the chief prosecutor and the state-appointed defence counsel.

The tribunal said the defence “made allegations without showing any substantive contradiction,” and after reviewing both sides, found “sufficient grounds” for framing charges.

The chair added that the chief prosecutor, in summing up, sought an order restraining Awami League from political activities. “The tribunal does not include [this in] the instant case.”

He said freedom of speech was systematically undermined under Sheikh Hasina’s rule, with critics, writers, journalists, civil society members, lawyers, and even judges facing intimidation, pressure and forced exile.

Thanking defence lawyer Amir, who represented Hasina and Kamal, the tribunal chair said, “In our view, in our estimation, he performed to the best of his ability and played exactly the role he was supposed to, and that we expected.”

Responding to the defence claim that the telephonic conversations involving Hasina had not been properly tested, he said the defence failed to present any grounds to support the allegation.

He added that experts at the CID forensic laboratory examined the recordings, and their report confirmed the conversations were genuine and not AI-generated.

CHARGES, PUNISHMENT

Originally, five charges were framed against Hasina, Kamal and Mamun, but after reviewing documents and depositions, the tribunal reshaped and modified them.

The ICT chair said the actions of the authorities in question were unprecedented in Bangladesh’s history. He said the nature and extent of the cruelty inflicted on protesters, including infants, women and the elderly, remain etched in the nation’s collective memory.

“The videos displayed in the courtroom showing the dead and injured, their cries of agony, and the appearances of victim-witnesses who lost skulls, eyes, noses, hands, and legs were so harrowing that any human being would struggle to remain in a normal state of mind,” the judge said. “Such atrocities must be brought to an end at any cost. Justice must not fail.”

In view of the tribunal’s findings, Hasina was found guilty on three counts under Charge 1 — incitement, ordering the killings, and failure to prevent the atrocities or take punitive action.

For these, she received imprisonment until natural death.

Under Charge 2, the first count concerned her orders to deploy drones, helicopters and lethal weapons to kill protesters, which the tribunal deemed crimes against humanity.

The second concerned the killing of six persons at Chankharpul and another six at Ashulia in execution of her earlier orders.

On these counts, the tribunal imposed a single sentence of death.

The tribunal also found Kamal and Mamun liable on four counts of crimes against humanity linked to the Chankharpul and Ashulia killings.

They were found guilty of abetment, failure to prevent the atrocities, and failure to take punitive measures.

“For all these four counts, we have decided to award a single sentence of death to Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal,” Justice Mozumder said.

The tribunal noted that Mamun materially assisted the proceedings by making a full and truthful disclosure of the facts, admitting involvement across the 36-day movement.

Citing his cooperation and admissions, it showed leniency and sentenced him to five years in prison despite the gravity of offences that typically warrant death.

The tribunal ordered the confiscation of all properties belonging to Hasina and Asaduzzaman in favour of the state.

It also directed the government to pay adequate compensation to the families of the slain protesters mentioned in the case, and to the wounded victims in consideration of the gravity of their injury and loss.

The sentence will be executed under Section 20(3) of the International Crimes Tribunal Act, 1973, “preferably following longstanding practice”.

A copy of the judgment will be sent to the Dhaka district magistrate, and one provided to Mamun. The absconding accused will not receive copies at this stage.