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Bangladesh's former prime minister has been given a death sentence for human rights violations stemming from her severe measures on protests led by students which resulted in her removal from power.

Hasina was declared culpable of authorizing deadly measures to be used against demonstrators, with approximately 1,400 individuals were killed during the unrest in the previous year.

The trial proceeded in absentia by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India following her ouster in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being responsible for numerous deaths during the protests. She has refuted all charges, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

This judgment represents a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over years of repression. Relatives of the deceased and injured had demanded tough penalties.

Responding to the decision in a comprehensive declaration, she expressed the execution sentence was the caretaker administration's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a political force and that she was proud of her administration's performance on human rights.

"I have no trepidation to meet my challengers in a fair court where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under enhanced protection before the ruling on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics organizing a demonstration and cheering as the sentence was declared.

The city has seen a sudden increase in unrest, with numerous incendiary devices set off and buses set on fire in the period preceding the verdict.

One explosive incident was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, area law enforcement officer Jisanul Haque told media outlets.

The protest movement led by students in the previous year started with requests to remove public sector reservation policies but transformed into a wider anti-government movement.

United Nations rights examiners declared in an analysis in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could constitute "human rights atrocities".

The paper detailed the shooting at point-blank range of certain demonstrators, the intentional injuring of additional individuals, unjustified apprehensions and torture.

Unauthorized recordings of one of Hasina's phone calls authenticated by external reviews earlier this year suggested she had sanctioned the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the trial.

Ahead of the verdict, relatives of those fatally injured in the unrest informed media representatives they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for her and co-accused who have "committed acts of vengeance and exploited their positions".

Another relative, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "implemented before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the kin of victims [in the protests] will find peace in their minds."

Following her removal, an interim government headed by economist Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A parliamentary election is planned for February 2026.

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

Hasina warned during the past month that if the the League's representatives were banned from standing in the upcoming election, millions would boycott the ballot.

The verdict now poses a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. Authorities have sought her repatriation but so far India has demonstrated no inclination to agree.

Her officially designated attorney Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "sad [and wishes] the outcome had varied".

"I am unable to challenge because my defendants are not present; that's why I am sad," he stated further.

The previous week, her legal team said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN pointing out major judicial fairness and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Hasina was tried alongside her ex-interior minister and security forces head.

While the sentence grants partial finality to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may do little to soothe the country's political divisions.

"The anger against Hasina and the Awami League has not diminished," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka told media outlets. "The leader and her faction has expressed regret or shown any remorse for the deaths of numerous individuals."

The advocate declared "This creates challenges for the organization to receive endorsement by a bulk of the population in this country."

The campaigner further stated that the punishment was not resolution for the families of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist multiple individuals who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, due to the crackdown. They are incapable of excusing her."

A journalist, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it particularly hard" for Awami League to become a regular participant of the nation's political landscape again.

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