Bangladesh’s former PM Sheikh Hasina has been found guilty and sentenced to death by the International Crime Tribunal (ICT). Sheikh Hasina has described this decision as one-sided and politically motivated. The former PM of Bangladesh said, “This decision was given without hearing my side. This decision was given by a tribunal which is being run by an unelected government. They have no mandate from the public. This is completely wrong.”
Bangladesh court found Sheikh Hasina guilty
Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in India since the fall of her government on August 5 last year, has been sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal-Bangladesh (ICT-BD). Earlier the court had declared him a fugitive. Reading out the verdict in court, the tribunal said the prosecution had proved beyond any doubt that Hasina was behind the deadly crackdown on student-led protests between July 15 and August 15 last year.
‘I was not given a chance to present my side’
A report by the United Nations Human Rights Office estimated that 1,400 people were killed during the nearly month-long movement known as the ‘July Uprising’. According to India Today report, Sheikh Hasina said, “This decision was already decided. I was neither given a chance to present my side nor to be represented by my lawyer. There is nothing international in ICT.”
Sheikh Hasina claimed that the tribunal had only prosecuted Awami League members, while ignoring violence allegedly perpetrated by political opponents. Former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan was also sentenced to death, while a former police chief was sentenced to five years in prison after turning approver.
Sheikh Hasina’s allegations against Yunus government
Sheikh Hasina said that no respectable or legal person in the world will support Bangladesh ICT. He argued that this court was being used to remove the last elected Prime Minister of Bangladesh and eliminate the Awami League as a political force. He further alleged that Yunus’ forces launched retaliatory attacks across the country and looted hundreds of homes, businesses and properties of Awami League leaders and workers.