Bangladesh entered a tense and uncertain new chapter on Monday as a special tribunal convicted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity.
The verdict, delivered in her absence, immediately deepened the country’s political volatility and set the stage for potential unrest ahead of national elections next year.
Hasina, now 78, has lived in exile in India since a mass uprising last year ended her long rule. That tumultuous period saw deadly clashes between security forces and protesters, with the United Nations estimating as many as 1,400 deaths. Prosecutors argued that Hasina bore direct responsibility for the violence, accusing her of authorizing lethal force in the final weeks of her government. They are seeking the death penalty.
The build-up to the ruling transformed parts of Dhaka into heavily policed zones. Armoured vehicles took up positions outside the tribunal, and nearly half the city’s police force was assigned to maintain order. Authorities said the measures were necessary as rival factions awaited the announcement, and with the interim government already struggling to manage a charged political atmosphere ahead of elections expected in February 2026.
Hasina’s party, the Awami League, dismissed the proceedings as a political show trial and called for a nationwide shutdown. The former leader refused court orders to return for the hearings, saying she did not recognise the tribunal’s legitimacy. In messages to supporters, she maintained her innocence and framed the case as part of a broader effort to dismantle her political legacy. She invoked the personal losses she endured—parents, siblings, and a home destroyed—casting herself as someone long targeted for elimination.
The prosecution presented five charges, including failure to prevent murder, which under Bangladeshi law amount to crimes against humanity. Secret recordings, which surfaced in media reports, allegedly captured Hasina authorizing the use of lethal force against demonstrators. Prosecutors say these recordings support months of testimony about violent orders from the top of her administration. Hasina has rejected the case as a “jurisprudential joke.”
Two senior officials from her former government were also tried alongside her: a fugitive former interior minister and a former police chief who pleaded guilty. Hasina, assigned a state lawyer, refused to engage with the process.
With the verdict now delivered, Bangladesh faces an uneasy stretch in which political resentment, public distrust, and the memory of last year’s bloodshed all converge—leaving the country bracing for what comes next.
