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The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been given a death sentence for atrocities due to her crackdown on student-led protests which led to her removal from power.

Hasina was declared culpable of authorizing deadly measures to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals were killed during the disturbances last year.

Hasina was tried in absentia by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being responsible for multiple fatalities during the protests. Hasina has denied the entire case, calling the trial as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

This judgment represents a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over extended periods of oppression. Families of those killed and harmed had requested tough penalties.

Responding to the decision in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a political force and that she was satisfied of her leadership's history on individual freedoms.

"I am not afraid to meet my challengers in a proper tribunal where the proof can be evaluated and reviewed impartially."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under increased safeguards ahead of the decision on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina staging a rally and celebrating as the judgment was announced.

Dhaka experienced a sudden increase in disturbances, with dozens of bombs exploded and buses set on fire in the days leading up to the verdict.

One explosive incident was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, regional security representative the police spokesperson told press agencies.

The protest movement led by students last year started with calls to eliminate state employment quotas but morphed into a broader opposition campaign.

International human rights monitors stated in a document in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could represent "human rights atrocities".

The report documented the gunfire from minimal distance of some protesters, the intentional injuring of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and torture.

Leaked audio of a call made by the former leader confirmed by external reviews during the current year indicated she had sanctioned the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the trial.

Prior to the ruling, relatives of those who died in the demonstrations stated to media representatives they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

One relative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for Hasina and others who have "performed revengeful deeds and exploited their positions".

Lucky Akther, 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."

Since Hasina's ousting, an temporary leadership headed by economic expert Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A national vote is planned for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the her former political organization, her political faction, was outlawed by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

Hasina warned last month that if the the League's representatives were banned from standing in the imminent electoral process, millions would boycott the election.

The verdict now poses a international dilemma for the neighboring countries. Authorities have sought her return but so far India has expressed no readiness to acquiesce.

The legal representative assigned to her Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "sad [and wishes] the outcome had varied".

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

Last week, her legal team said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN raising major judicial fairness and due process issues at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial in conjunction with her former home minister and top law enforcement officer.

Even though the verdict grants partial finality to kin of victims in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the country's political divisions.

"The resentment towards Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not decreased," a human rights advocate from the capital told news organizations. "The leader and her faction has expressed regret or shown any remorse for the fatalities of countless citizens."

She said "This creates challenges for the organization to receive endorsement by a bulk of the population in this state."

The activist added that the sentence was not closure for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We work with numerous persons who lost their limbs forever, they are amputees now, because of the suppression. They cannot pardon her."

A journalist, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it particularly hard" for the political faction to become a standard element of the country's governance system again.

This may change if "there is some kind of apology and a disassociation with Sheikh Hasina and the old leadership," he stated.