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The country's previous leader has been handed capital punishment for crimes against humanity due to her crackdown on protests led by students which caused her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of authorizing deadly measures to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals were killed during the unrest in the previous year.

The trial proceeded while she was absent by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being behind multiple fatalities during the protests. The former leader rejected every accusation, labeling the proceedings as "biased and politically motivated".

The verdict marks a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests brought forth resentment over years of repression. Next of kin of victims and harmed had demanded severe punishments.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, she expressed the capital punishment was the temporary leadership's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her government's record on individual freedoms.

"I have no trepidation to meet my challengers in a just legal forum where the evidence can be weighed and reviewed impartially."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under increased safeguards prior to the ruling on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina staging a rally and cheering as the verdict was read.

Dhaka experienced a notable rise in turmoil, with multiple explosives detonated and public transport vehicles burned in the time before the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, area law enforcement officer the police spokesperson informed media outlets.

The student-led uprising during 2024 started with requests to remove government job quotas but evolved into a more extensive dissent initiative.

International human rights monitors declared in an analysis in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could represent "crimes against humanity".

The paper detailed the shooting at point-blank range of certain demonstrators, the purposeful disabling of others, unjustified apprehensions and torture.

Disclosed sound files of a call made by the former leader verified by external reviews in previous months indicated she had sanctioned the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the trial.

Prior to the ruling, family members of those killed during the protests stated to media representatives they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

Ramjan Ali, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for her and co-accused who have "committed acts of vengeance and abused their power".

Another relative, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "carried out before the election".

"Solely at that point the kin of victims [in the protests] will achieve closure in their hearts."

After her departure, an temporary leadership headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A national vote is planned for February 2026.

However, the her former political organization, the former ruling party, was banned by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

The former leader cautioned last month that if the party's candidates were banned from standing in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the election.

The judgment creates a diplomatic challenge for India and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has asked her return but to date India has expressed no readiness to agree.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer the defense lawyer said he was "unhappy and desiring the decision had been otherwise".

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; that's why I am disappointed," he stated further.

Last week, her legal team said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN pointing out significant due process and judicial process problems at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial alongside her former home minister and police chief.

Even though the verdict grants partial finality to families of killed in the protests, it may not significantly ease the state's ideological splits.

"The fury directed at the former leader and the the former ruling faction has not diminished," a Dhaka-based rights activist informed news organizations. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or displayed repentance for the fatalities of countless citizens."

She said "This complicates matters for the party to be accepted by a bulk of the population in this nation."

The advocate continued that the sentence was not resolution for the families of those who died and were wounded.

"We support multiple individuals who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are currently without limbs, because of the suppression. They will never be able to forgive her."

An analyst, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "fundamental aspect of the condemnation could make it even more difficult" for her party to become a regular participant of the country's governance system again.

This could alter if "an expression of regret occurs and a distancing from Sheikh Hasina and the old leadership," he said.