NEW DELHI, Nov 18:  International rights watchdogs and global think tanks have questioned the fairness of the trial that led to the death sentence for deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hasina, 78, was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) for “crimes against humanity” over her Government’s brutal crackdown on student-led protests last year.

Amnesty International in a statement on Monday said Hasina’s trial and death sentence in absentia were “neither fair nor just”, while New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the prosecution “failed to meet international fair trial standards”.

“This was not a fair trial… the unprecedented speed of this trial in absentia and verdict raises significant fair trial concerns for a case of this scale and complexity,” Amnesty said.

The rights watchdog said despite being represented by a court-appointed lawyer, Hasina was not given adequate time to prepare her defence, and that defence cross-examination of contradictory evidence was not allowed.

It said the trial was conducted before a court that “Amnesty International has long criticised for its lack of independence and history of unfair proceedings”.

Amnesty said victims of July 2024 unrest “deserved far better” and “Bangladesh needs a justice process that is scrupulously fair and fully impartial, beyond all suspicion of bias, and that does not resort to further human rights violations through the death penalty”.

HRW in a statement said evidence against Hasina included audio recordings in which she allegedly ordered the use of lethal weapons. It noted that although the court-appointed lawyer could cross-examine witnesses, he did not present any defence witnesses.

“Ensuring justice also means protecting the rights of the accused, including by abolishing the death penalty, which is inherently cruel and irreversible,” it said.

The rights group said Bangladeshi authorities have a long history, including under the Hasina government, of bringing “politically motivated” cases before the ICT-BD, to “arbitrarily arrest and detain, unfairly prosecute, and in some cases carry out death sentences against political opponents”.

“Such practices have continued under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, who took charge in August 2024 after Hasina fled to neighbouring India,” it said.

The International Crisis Group (ICG) in a statement noted that trials in absentia are often contentious, and in this case, the speed with which the hearings were conducted and the “apparent lack of resources for the defence” raised “questions of fairness”. (PTI)