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The country's previous leader has been handed capital punishment for atrocities over her harsh response on youth demonstrations which led to her forced departure.

Hasina was declared culpable of allowing lethal force to be used against demonstrators, 1,400 of whom died during the unrest during 2024.

Hasina was tried in absentia by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being the mastermind of hundreds of killings during the protests. The former leader rejected the entire case, describing the process as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The verdict marks a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over years of repression. Next of kin of victims and harmed had called for severe punishments.

Answering the judgment in a comprehensive declaration, the former leader stated the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her leadership's history on human rights.

"I have no trepidation to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and reviewed impartially."

The capital, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under increased safeguards before the decision on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics holding a protest and applauding as the verdict was read.

The city has seen a sudden increase in turmoil, with dozens of bombs exploded and buses set on fire in the days leading up to the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, area law enforcement officer the police spokesperson stated to media outlets.

The protest movement led by students in the previous year commenced through calls to eliminate government job quotas but transformed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

United Nations rights examiners said in a report in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could amount to "human rights atrocities".

The study recorded the shooting at point-blank range of some protesters, the deliberate maiming of others, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Unauthorized recordings of a call made by the former leader verified by external reviews earlier this year indicated she had authorized the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the proceedings.

Prior to the ruling, family members of those who died in the demonstrations told press outlets they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for the former leader and associates who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and exploited their positions".

A different family member, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "executed before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the kin of victims [in the protests] will obtain solace in their hearts."

After her departure, an temporary leadership led by economic expert Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A national vote is scheduled for February 2026.

However, the Hasina's political party, Hasina's political party, was outlawed by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

She alerted in the previous month that if the the League's representatives were prohibited from running in the imminent electoral process, countless would abstain the vote.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. Dhaka has formally requested her repatriation but so far India has shown no willingness to acquiesce.

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

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

The previous week, her legal team said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN highlighting major judicial fairness and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial alongside her previous domestic affairs official and police chief.

Although the punishment offers some closure to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may do little to soothe the state's ideological splits.

"The resentment towards Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to news organizations. "Both she and the organization has expressed regret or displayed repentance for the deaths of numerous individuals."

The advocate declared "This complicates matters for the party to be accepted by a most citizens in this country."

The campaigner further stated that the sentence was not closure for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist multiple individuals who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are currently without limbs, due to the crackdown. They will never be able to forgive her."

A journalist, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for Awami League to become a normal feature of the nation's political landscape again.

This could alter if "there is some kind of apology and a separation from Sheikh Hasina and the former hierarchy," he said.