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Bangladesh's former prime minister has been given a death sentence for crimes against humanity over her crackdown on student-led protests which caused her forced departure.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom were killed during the turmoil last year.

Hasina was tried without her presence by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being responsible for hundreds of killings during the protests. The former leader rejected the entire case, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

This judgment represents a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over long-standing suppression. Relatives of the deceased and injured had called for tough penalties.

Answering the judgment in a detailed document, Hasina said the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was proud of her government's record on individual freedoms.

"I am not afraid to meet my challengers in a proper tribunal where the proof can be evaluated and tested fairly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under enhanced protection ahead of the verdict on Monday, with several of her detractors staging a rally and cheering as the judgment was announced.

The city has seen a notable rise in unrest, with numerous incendiary devices set off and public transport vehicles burned in the days leading up to the verdict.

One explosive incident was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, local police official Jisanul Haque stated to news organizations.

The protest movement led by students last year commenced through calls to eliminate state employment quotas but transformed into a wider anti-government movement.

UN human rights investigators stated in a document in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could represent "human rights atrocities".

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

Unauthorized recordings of one of Hasina's phone calls confirmed by investigative sources earlier this year implied she had approved the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the proceedings.

Before the decision, family members of those fatally injured in the unrest informed media representatives they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

Ramjan Ali, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for her and co-accused who have "performed revengeful deeds and misused their authority".

Lucky Akther, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "executed before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will obtain solace in their hearts."

Following her removal, an interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A national vote is set for February 2026.

However, the Awami League, her political faction, was prohibited by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were banned from standing in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the ballot.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has asked her repatriation but to date India has demonstrated no inclination to agree.

Her officially designated attorney Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "disappointed and hoping the verdict had been different".

"I cannot even contest because my defendants are not present; that's why I am disappointed," he continued.

Last week, the defense attorneys said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN pointing out major judicial fairness and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina alongside her previous domestic affairs official and police chief.

Although the punishment offers some closure to kin of victims in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the country's political divisions.

"The resentment towards Sheikh Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not subsided," a Dhaka-based rights activist informed media outlets. "The leader and her faction has expressed regret or demonstrated contrition for the deaths of numerous individuals."

The advocate declared "It makes it difficult for the party to be accepted by a most citizens in this nation."

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

"We assist multiple individuals who lost their limbs forever, they are currently without limbs, due to the crackdown. They cannot pardon her."

A journalist, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it particularly hard" for the political faction to become a standard element of the country's governance system again.

This could alter if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from the former leader and the old leadership," he said.