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

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of authorizing deadly measures to be used against activists, 1,400 of whom died during the unrest in the previous year.

The trial proceeded without her presence by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being the mastermind of hundreds of killings during the protests. The former leader rejected all charges, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

The verdict marks a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over years of repression. Families of those killed and harmed had called for tough penalties.

Responding to the decision in a detailed document, the former leader stated the capital punishment was the temporary leadership's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her government's record on civil liberties.

"I do not fear to meet my challengers in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and reviewed impartially."

The capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under enhanced protection prior to the decision on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics staging a rally and celebrating as the sentence was declared.

Dhaka experienced a notable rise in turmoil, with dozens of bombs exploded and public transport vehicles burned in the period preceding the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, area law enforcement officer the authorities' representative informed press agencies.

The protest movement led by students in the previous year commenced through calls to eliminate government job quotas but evolved into a wider anti-government movement.

UN human rights investigators declared in an analysis in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could amount to "crimes against humanity".

The study recorded the gunfire from minimal distance of a number of activists, the intentional injuring of additional individuals, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Unauthorized recordings of a telephone conversation involving Hasina authenticated by media examinations during the current year suggested she had approved the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the proceedings.

Before the decision, kin of those fatally injured in the unrest told press outlets they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

Ramjan Ali, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and exploited their positions".

Another relative, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "carried out before the election".

"Solely at that point the families of those killed [in the protests] will obtain solace in their hearts."

Following her removal, an interim government under the guidance of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A general election is scheduled for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the Hasina's political party, the former ruling party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the her faction's nominees were banned from standing in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the election.

The judgment creates a diplomatic challenge for both nations. Authorities have sought her repatriation but to date India has expressed no readiness to acquiesce.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer the defense lawyer said he was "sad [and wishes] the verdict had been different".

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; for that reason I am sad," he stated further.

The previous week, the defense attorneys said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN raising serious fair trial and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina together with her previous domestic affairs official and security forces head.

Although the punishment grants partial finality to families of killed in the protests, it may not significantly ease the nation's partisan rifts.

"The fury directed at the former leader and the Awami League has not decreased," a Dhaka-based rights activist told news organizations. "The leader and her faction has said sorry or shown any remorse for the killings of hundreds of people."

The activist stated "This creates challenges for the organization to receive endorsement by a bulk of the population in this nation."

The advocate continued that the penalty was not finality for the families of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We support multiple individuals who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are currently without limbs, because of the suppression. They cannot pardon her."

An analyst, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "fundamental aspect of the condemnation could make it particularly hard" for Awami League to become a normal feature of Bangladeshi politics again.

This may change if "a form of contrition emerges and a separation from the former leader and the former hierarchy," he expressed.