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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 forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against activists, 1,400 of whom were killed during the turmoil last year.

Hasina was tried while she was absent by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, as she resides in 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. Hasina has denied every accusation, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

This judgment represents a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests brought forth resentment over extended periods of oppression. Relatives of the deceased and injured had requested tough penalties.

Responding to the decision in a five-page statement, she expressed the death penalty was the caretaker administration's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a political force and that she was proud of her government's record on civil liberties.

"I have no trepidation to face my accusers in a just legal forum where the evidence can be weighed and examined justly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under tightened security ahead of the decision on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina organizing a demonstration and cheering as the sentence was declared.

The capital witnessed a notable rise in unrest, with numerous incendiary devices set off and buses set on fire in the days leading up to the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, local police official Jisanul Haque informed press agencies.

The protest movement led by students during 2024 began with demands to abolish state employment quotas but transformed into a wider anti-government movement.

UN human rights investigators said in a report in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could constitute "violations of human dignity".

The report documented the shooting at point-blank range of certain demonstrators, the deliberate maiming of others, unjustified apprehensions and mistreatment.

Leaked audio of one of Hasina's phone calls confirmed by external reviews during the current year implied she had sanctioned the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the trial.

Prior to the ruling, relatives of those who died in the demonstrations told news agencies they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for Hasina and others who have "performed revengeful deeds and abused their power".

A different family member, 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 minds."

After her departure, an temporary leadership headed by economic expert Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A general election is set for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Hasina's political party, Hasina's political party, was outlawed by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

The former leader cautioned last month that if the party's candidates were barred from participating in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the vote.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for both nations. The Bangladesh government has asked her repatriation but to date India has shown no willingness to acquiesce.

The legal representative assigned to her the defense lawyer said he was "sad [and wishes] the outcome had varied".

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; that's why I am disappointed," he stated further.

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

Hasina was tried together with her previous domestic affairs official and security forces head.

Although the punishment offers some closure to kin of victims in the protests, it may do little to soothe the country's political divisions.

"The anger against Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka informed news organizations. "Both she and the organization has expressed regret or displayed repentance for the fatalities of countless citizens."

The advocate declared "It makes it difficult for the organization to receive endorsement by a bulk of the population in this country."

The activist added that the sentence was not resolution for the relatives of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are amputees now, because of the suppression. They cannot pardon her."

A journalist, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it increasingly challenging" for the political faction to become a normal feature of the country's governance system again.

This may change if "an expression of regret occurs and a separation from Hasina and the former hierarchy," he stated.