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The country's previous leader has been sentenced to death for atrocities over her severe measures on youth demonstrations which resulted in her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of authorizing deadly measures to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals were killed during the unrest last year.

Hasina was tried in absentia by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged 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".

This judgment represents a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over years of repression. Families of those killed and harmed had demanded strict sentences.

Answering the judgment in a comprehensive declaration, she expressed the death penalty was the interim government's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was satisfied of her leadership's history on individual freedoms.

"I am not afraid to confront those accusing me in a just legal forum where the facts can be assessed and examined justly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under enhanced protection ahead of the ruling on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina organizing a demonstration and celebrating as the verdict was read.

Dhaka experienced a notable rise in unrest, with numerous incendiary devices set off and coaches ignited in the time before the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, local police official Jisanul Haque told media outlets.

The student-led uprising during 2024 started with demands to abolish government job quotas but transformed into a wider anti-government movement.

UN human rights investigators stated in a document in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could amount to "crimes against humanity".

The report documented the shooting at point-blank range of certain demonstrators, the deliberate maiming of additional individuals, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment.

Disclosed sound files of one of Hasina's phone calls authenticated by media examinations during the current year implied she had sanctioned the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the proceedings.

Prior to the ruling, family members of those fatally injured in the unrest stated to press outlets they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

A family representative, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for Hasina and others who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "carried out before the election".

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

Since Hasina's ousting, an interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A national vote is scheduled for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Awami League, the former ruling party, was outlawed by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

The former leader cautioned last month that if the her faction's nominees were barred from participating in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the vote.

The verdict now poses a diplomatic challenge for India and Bangladesh. Authorities have sought her return but so far India has shown no willingness to acquiesce.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "disappointed and hoping the outcome had varied".

"I even cannot appeal because my represented individuals are away; for that reason I am sad," he stated further.

The previous week, the defense attorneys said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN pointing out significant due process and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial alongside her former home minister and security forces head.

Even though the verdict grants partial finality to families of killed in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the state's ideological splits.

"The resentment towards Sheikh Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to media outlets. "Neither she nor the party has apologised or displayed repentance for the fatalities of countless citizens."

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

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

"We assist several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, as a result of the harsh measures. They are incapable of excusing her."

David Bergman, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for Awami League to become a regular participant of the nation's political landscape again.

This could alter if "there is some kind of apology and a separation from Hasina and the old leadership," he expressed.