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The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been given a death sentence for atrocities over her crackdown on protests led by students which resulted in her removal from power.

Hasina was declared culpable of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, among whom around 1,400 people lost their lives during the turmoil last year.

Legal proceedings were conducted without her presence by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being responsible for hundreds of killings during the protests. The former leader rejected every accusation, calling the trial as "biased and politically motivated".

The verdict marks a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over long-standing suppression. Families of those killed and injured had demanded severe punishments.

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 governing body and that she was proud of her leadership's history on civil liberties.

"I am not afraid to meet my challengers in a proper tribunal where the facts can be assessed and tested fairly."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under increased safeguards ahead of the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics organizing a demonstration and cheering as the sentence was declared.

The capital witnessed a recent spike in disturbances, with numerous incendiary devices set off and buses set on fire in the time before 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 youth-driven revolt in the previous year commenced through demands to abolish state employment quotas but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.

United Nations rights examiners stated in a document in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could represent "crimes against humanity".

The report documented the firing at close quarters of some protesters, the intentional injuring of others, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment.

Unauthorized recordings of a call made by the former leader verified by investigative sources earlier this year implied she had sanctioned the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the proceedings.

Ahead of the verdict, kin of those who died in the demonstrations informed press outlets they wanted the former leader to face strict penalties.

Ramjan Ali, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for the former leader and associates who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and misused their authority".

A different family member, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "executed before the election".

"Only then the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will achieve closure in their minds."

Following her removal, an temporary leadership under the guidance of economist Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A parliamentary election is planned for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the her former political organization, her political faction, was prohibited by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

She alerted last month that if the party's candidates were banned from standing in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the ballot.

This decision presents a international dilemma for the neighboring countries. Dhaka has formally requested her return but so far India has expressed no readiness to agree.

Her officially designated attorney her legal counsel said he was "sad [and wishes] the verdict had been different".

"I cannot even contest because my clients are absent; for that reason I am disheartened," he stated further.

Recently, her legal team said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN highlighting significant due process and due process issues at the ICT.

Hasina was tried together with her former home minister and top law enforcement officer.

While the sentence provides certain resolution to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the nation's partisan rifts.

"The resentment towards Sheikh Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not subsided," a human rights advocate from the capital informed press agencies. "The leader and her faction has apologised or displayed repentance for the fatalities of countless citizens."

The advocate declared "This complicates matters for the faction to gain approval by a majority of people in this state."

The advocate continued that the sentence was not finality for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We work with several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, as a result of the harsh measures. They will never be able to forgive her."

An analyst, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it increasingly challenging" for her party to become a regular participant of Bangladeshi politics again.

This might transform if "there is some kind of apology and a distancing from Hasina and the former hierarchy," he said.