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Bangladesh's former prime minister has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity due to her crackdown on protests led by students which led to her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, among whom around 1,400 people were killed during the unrest during 2024.

Legal proceedings were conducted without her presence by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being behind numerous deaths during the protests. The former leader rejected all charges, labeling the proceedings as "biased and politically motivated".

This judgment represents a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over extended periods of oppression. Next of kin of victims and harmed had called for severe punishments.

Responding to the decision in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the caretaker administration's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was content of her administration's performance on human rights.

"I do not fear to meet my challengers in a just legal forum where the proof can be evaluated and reviewed impartially."

The capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under increased safeguards ahead of the decision on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics holding a protest and applauding as the sentence was declared.

The city has seen a sudden increase in disturbances, with numerous incendiary devices set off and buses set on fire in the days leading up to the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, area law enforcement officer the police spokesperson stated to media outlets.

The protest movement led by students during 2024 commenced through requests to remove state employment quotas but evolved into a wider anti-government movement.

United Nations rights examiners declared in an analysis in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could represent "crimes against humanity".

The study recorded the firing at close quarters of certain demonstrators, the deliberate maiming of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and abuse.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina authenticated by external reviews during the current year implied she had authorized the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the proceedings.

Before the decision, kin of those fatally injured in the unrest stated to news agencies they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

A family representative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for the former leader and associates who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and exploited their positions".

A different family member, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "carried out before the election".

"Only then the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will achieve closure in their minds."

Following her removal, an caretaker administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A general election is planned for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the her former political organization, Hasina's political party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the her faction's nominees were prohibited from running in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the ballot.

This decision presents a foreign relations issue for both nations. Authorities have sought her repatriation but so far India has shown no willingness to acquiesce.

Her officially designated attorney her legal counsel said he was "sad [and wishes] the decision had been otherwise".

"I cannot even contest because my clients are absent; for that reason I am disappointed," he continued.

The previous week, Hasina's lawyers said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN pointing out serious fair trial and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Hasina was tried together with her previous domestic affairs official and security forces head.

Even though the verdict provides certain resolution to families of killed in the protests, it may not significantly ease the country's political divisions.

"The fury directed at Sheikh Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka informed media outlets. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or displayed repentance for the killings of hundreds of people."

The activist stated "This complicates matters for the faction to gain approval by a majority of people in this nation."

The activist added that the penalty was not closure for the families of those killed and injured.

"We assist numerous persons who suffered permanent amputations, they are amputees now, due to the crackdown. They will never be able to forgive her."

A journalist, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it increasingly challenging" for her party to become a regular participant of Bangladeshi politics again.

This might transform if "a form of contrition emerges and a disassociation with Hasina and the former hierarchy," he expressed.