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The country's previous leader has been handed capital punishment for crimes against humanity stemming from her harsh response on youth demonstrations which resulted in her removal from power.

Hasina was declared culpable of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, with approximately 1,400 individuals lost their lives during the unrest during 2024.

Hasina was tried without her presence 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 the mastermind of multiple fatalities during the protests. Hasina has denied every accusation, calling the trial as "biased and politically motivated".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over long-standing suppression. Families of those killed and harmed had requested strict sentences.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a political force and that she was proud of her administration's performance on human rights.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the facts can be assessed and examined justly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under increased safeguards ahead of the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics staging a rally and cheering as the judgment was announced.

The capital witnessed a recent spike in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and buses set on fire in the days leading up to the verdict.

One explosive incident was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, regional security representative the authorities' representative told press agencies.

The student-led uprising in the previous year started with calls to eliminate state employment quotas but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.

International human rights monitors stated in a document in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could amount to "crimes against humanity".

The report documented the shooting at point-blank range of some protesters, the intentional injuring of others, unjustified apprehensions and torture.

Unauthorized recordings of one of Hasina's phone calls verified by external reviews in previous months suggested she had authorized the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the proceedings.

Prior to the ruling, relatives of those fatally injured in the unrest stated to media representatives they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

Ramjan Ali, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for her and co-accused who have "performed revengeful deeds 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".

"Exclusively thereafter the kin of victims [in the protests] will achieve closure in their minds."

Since Hasina's ousting, an temporary leadership under the guidance of economist Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A national vote is scheduled for February 2026.

However, the her former political organization, the former ruling party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

She alerted last month that if the the League's representatives were barred from participating in the upcoming election, millions would boycott the election.

The verdict now poses a foreign relations issue for the neighboring countries. Dhaka has formally requested her repatriation but to date India has shown no willingness to acquiesce.

The legal representative assigned to her Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "unhappy and desiring the decision had been otherwise".

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; which is why I am sad," he stated further.

The previous week, Hasina's lawyers said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN raising significant due process and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

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

Even though the verdict offers some closure to families of killed in the protests, it may not significantly ease the country's political divisions.

"The resentment towards Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not diminished," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka informed media outlets. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or shown any remorse for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "It makes it difficult for the party to be accepted by a most citizens in this country."

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

"We support multiple individuals who suffered permanent amputations, they are amputees now, due to the crackdown. They cannot pardon her."

A journalist, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for her party to become a regular participant of the nation's political landscape again.

This could alter if "there is some kind of apology and a distancing from the former leader and the old leadership," he expressed.