Dhaka, November 17, 2025 —Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected the death-sentence verdict handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal‑1, describing the proceedings as politically driven and lacking legitimacy. In a statement shared by the Bangladesh Awami League, she called the tribunal a “rigged body” set up by an unelected government and accused it of targeting her party rather than delivering justice.
Hasina asserted that the interim administration led by Dr Mohammad Yunus had used the verdict to undermine her party and divert attention from governance failures. She alleged that her government’s record of human rights and development—such as Bangladesh joining the International Criminal Court in 2010, providing refuge to Rohingya refugees, and achieving major poverty reduction—contradicts the allegations leveled against her.
Hasina also questioned the impartiality of the tribunal, saying senior judges and advocates sympathetic to her party were removed or intimidated, and claimed the court had only ever prosecuted members of her party. She added she was not given a fair chance to defend herself or choose her legal team, calling the process fundamentally flawed.
The former prime minister challenged the interim government to take the matter to the ICC, saying they refused because they fear international scrutiny of their own human-rights record. She reiterated that she mourns all deaths during the 2024 unrest but denied ordering any violence against protestors.
Local media reported that the tribunal found Hasina guilty of five counts of crimes against humanity related to the July–August 2024 uprising and sentenced her to death in absentia. Two other senior figures—former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al‑Mamun and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal—were also convicted. Hasina, 78, remains in exile in India following the fall of her government.
