The International Crimes Tribunal has sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh to death for committing crimes against humanity in her attempt to suppress the July Uprising of 2024 in Bangladesh.
The same sentence was given to the Home Minister of Hasina’s government, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.
The then IGP of the police, Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, was given a reduced sentence of 5 years in prison after he confessed to the crime and became a state witness.
The three-member International Crimes Tribunal-1, headed by Justice Md. Golam Mortuza Majumdar, announced the verdict in Sheikh Hasina’s case on Monday (November 17).
Sheikh Hasina left the country and went to neighbouring India on August 5 after losing power following the July-August protests last year. She is still staying there.
The court that the Hasina government formed to try the 1971 war crimes was the same International Crimes Tribunal that gave her the maximum sentence.
The tribunal executed five top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and one of BNP during the Awami League regime on the basis of the death sentence verdict.
The 453-page verdict that announced Sheikh Hasina’s death sentence had six parts in total.
The two parts of the verdict were read out by the second member of the tribunal, Judge Md. Mohitul Haque Enam Chowdhury and the first member, Justice Md. Shafiul Alam Mahmud. Finally, Justice Md. Golam Mortuza Majumdar announced the tribunal’s decision on the sentence of the accused.
Among the accused in the case, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, like Hasina, is also absconding to India. Only former IGP Mamun is arrested and in jail.
Mamun was produced in court this morning for the verdict. After the verdict, he was taken back to jail.
For the first time in the history of Bangladesh, the verdict in this case was broadcast live from the court.