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The country's previous leader has been sentenced to death for atrocities stemming from her harsh response on student-led protests which resulted in her forced departure.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of allowing lethal force to be used against demonstrators, with approximately 1,400 individuals lost their lives during the disturbances during 2024.

The trial proceeded while she was absent by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India following her ouster in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being responsible for numerous deaths during the protests. Hasina has denied every accusation, describing the process as "biased and politically motivated".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over long-standing suppression. Relatives of the deceased and wounded had demanded tough penalties.

Answering the judgment in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was content of her leadership's history on individual freedoms.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the facts can be assessed and examined justly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under enhanced protection before the ruling on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina staging a rally and celebrating as the judgment was announced.

The city has seen a recent spike in turmoil, with dozens of bombs exploded and buses set on fire in the days leading up to the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, regional security representative the police spokesperson stated to media outlets.

The protest movement led by students in the previous year started with calls to eliminate state employment quotas but morphed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

International human rights monitors said in a report in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could represent "crimes against humanity".

The report documented the gunfire from minimal distance of certain demonstrators, the intentional injuring of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and abuse.

Disclosed sound files of one of Hasina's phone calls verified by investigative sources in previous months implied she had authorized the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the trial.

Ahead of the verdict, relatives of those killed during the protests stated to media representatives they wanted the former leader to face strict penalties.

Ramjan Ali, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "carried out before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will achieve closure in their minds."

After her departure, an temporary leadership under the guidance of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A general election is scheduled for February 2026.

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

Hasina warned last month that if the party's candidates were prohibited from running in the imminent electoral process, numerous would avoid the election.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for both nations. The Bangladesh government has asked her return but until now India has expressed no readiness to comply.

The legal representative assigned to her her legal counsel said he was "unhappy and desiring the verdict had been different".

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; which is why I am sad," he stated further.

Recently, her legal team said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN pointing out major judicial fairness and due process issues at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina in conjunction with her ex-interior minister and security forces head.

Although the punishment provides certain resolution to families of killed in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the country's political divisions.

"The fury directed at Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not decreased," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to news organizations. "The leader and her faction has apologised or shown any remorse for the fatalities of countless citizens."

She said "It makes it difficult for the party to be accepted by a bulk of the population in this nation."

The activist added that the punishment was not finality for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist several people who lost their limbs forever, they are amputees now, because of the suppression. They will never be able to forgive her."

An analyst, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "fundamental aspect of the condemnation could make it particularly hard" for the political faction to become a standard element of Bangladeshi politics again.

This could alter if "an expression of regret occurs and a disassociation with Sheikh Hasina and the previous administration," he said.