Former Bangladesh prime minister sentenced to death for crackdown on 2024 riots

A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death after convicting her of ordering a crackdown on the 2024 riots that led to her ouster. The U.N. said the unrest killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

"All the elements (...) constituting a crime against humanity are gathered," said Dhaka Court Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder. "We have decided to impose only one penalty on her, the death penalty," he added.

Hasina, 78, always denied the charges against her and was tried in absentia after fleeing by helicopter to India in the summer of 2024.

Judges found the former prime minister guilty of several charges related to crimes against humanity, in particular inciting to commit murder and ordering assassinations, according to the verdict.

After the sentencing, Hasina, who was in power for 15 years, said the verdict was "politically motivated."

"The sentences pronounced against me were handed down by a rigged court, established and presided over by an unelected government and without a democratic mandate," she said in a statement.