As Muhammad Yunus-led govt demands Sheikh Hasina extradition, ex-PM says THIS about death sentence

Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Monday urged India to hand over ousted PM Sheikh Hasina and former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal after the country's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) sentenced the two to death for "crimes against humanity".

"It is also a binding obligation on India," the ministry's letter to India said, citing an extradition treaty between the two nations. 

"Asylum for these people ... would amount to extremely shameful behaviour and contempt for justice."

This follows Sheikh Hasina's first response to the death sentence imposed on her by the ICT, calling it the result of the "brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to ... nullify the Awami League as a political force".

The high-profile case saw her tried in absentia (as she is currently in India) in connection with "crimes against humanity" she allegedly committed during student-led agitations in 2024 that led to the fall of her government.

Though former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun was also convicted of "crimes against humanity", he was given a lenient sentence of five years in prison.

In her first reaction to the "biased and politically motivated" verdict, Hasina also reiterated that the accusations made against her were false, claiming that the tribunal was neither impartial, nor international.

Notably, the tribunal had not allowed her to appeal her case, as its rules mandated that a convict must be arrested or surrender to the authorities to qualify for filing an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The ICT had found her guilty of three of the five charges levelled against her—relating to the incitement of violence, orders to kill, and inaction in the face of atrocities—and first imposed a life term on her, and later on, the death sentence.

"We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence—that is, sentence of death," Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder had declared.

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The 78-year-old leader claimed that certain judges of the court who had expressed sympathy for her (and the banned Awami League) were either "removed or intimidated into silence".

She also pointed out that the ICT had "exclusively prosecuted members of the Awami League", while doing "precisely nothing" against crimes committed by other parties.

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Declaring that she would rather testify before a "proper tribunal" like the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Sheikh Hasina attacked the Muhammad Yunus-led government, stating that he was not democratically elected like her, and that he was responsible for most of the deaths that had taken place during the student-led uprisings.

Bangladesh's interim head, however, has called the death sentence a "historic verdict".

"Since July 15, 2024, those responsible for these retaliatory attacks, burnings and lynchings, which were carried out on Yunus’ orders ... have been granted indemnity ... Terrorists, extremists, and convicted killers have been released from prison, while the jails have been filled with Awami League leaders and activists," Sheikh Hasina said in her statement.

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She also categorically rejected each and every human rights allegation levelled against her—from the student protest killings and incitement of violence to the burning of state buildings—citing her "government’s record on human rights and development".

As hordes of citizens celebrate the verdict, the interim government has also said that any attempts to create "anarchy, chaos or disturb public order would be strictly suppressed".

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