Bad news for former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, International Crimes Tribunal sentenced her to 6 months in prison for…
Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was given a six-month jail sentence by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) for contempt of court, as reported by local media. The decision came from a three-judge panel led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, according to The Dhaka Tribune newspaper.
Along with her, Shakil Akand Bulbul from Gaibandha was also punished. He received a two-month jail sentence in the same case.
This is the first time Sheikh Hasina has been punished in any court case since she was forced from office and left Bangladesh 11 months ago.
On July 1, prosecutors accused her of helping or ordering serious crimes, including mass killings, and filed five charges of abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, and conspiracy. Hasina has denied all of them. Her banned Awami League party, now run from abroad, called the trial a “show trial.”
The United Nations claimed that about 1,400 people died last July and August when Hasina’s government tried to crush huge protests. After a student‑led uprising in August, she escaped to India and has refused to return for hearings that began on June 1.
Prosecutors say Hasina is ultimately responsible for three violent incidents still under separate trial: the killing of a 23‑year‑old student named Abu Sayeed, the shooting of six people in Dhaka’s Chankharpul area, and the killing and burning of six more in Ashulia, another part of the capital.
Hasina is being tried along with two former officials. Ex‑interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal is also on the run, while former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun is in jail awaiting the verdicts.
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