Bangladesh’s Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Found Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity

Dhaka, — A special tribunal in Dhaka has convicted Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, 78, of alleged crimes against humanity. Hasina faces accusations of violently suppressing student-led protests last year, during which the UN estimates up to 1,400 people lost their lives.

The 2024 protests ultimately forced Hasina from office, and she has been living in exile in India since then. Security has been heightened across Bangladesh amid fears of backlash, with reports of some protests already breaking out this morning, according to the BBC.

Hasina’s 15-year tenure in power, widely criticized as authoritarian, was marked by allegations of suppression of dissent, extrajudicial detentions, and killings. In response to the tribunal’s ruling, Hasina reportedly described the trial in her absence as a “kangaroo court.”