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Bangladesh's former prime minister has been given a death sentence for human rights violations due to her crackdown on protests led by students which caused her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against activists, 1,400 of whom were killed during the unrest in the previous year.

The trial proceeded in absentia by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being the mastermind of numerous deaths during the protests. The former leader rejected every accusation, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over years of repression. Families of those killed and wounded had demanded severe punishments.

Responding to the decision in a detailed document, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a political force and that she was content of her government's record on individual freedoms.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a just legal forum where the proof can be evaluated and reviewed impartially."

The capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under tightened security prior to the decision on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics holding a protest and cheering as the judgment was announced.

The capital witnessed a notable rise in unrest, with multiple explosives detonated and public transport vehicles burned in the time before the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, regional security representative the police spokesperson stated to news organizations.

The youth-driven revolt in the previous year began with calls to eliminate government job quotas but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.

International human rights monitors stated in a document in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could represent "crimes against humanity".

The study recorded the shooting at point-blank range of some protesters, the purposeful disabling of further participants, arbitrary arrests and abuse.

Leaked audio of a call made by the former leader confirmed by external reviews earlier this year suggested she had sanctioned the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the legal process.

Ahead of the verdict, relatives of those killed during the protests informed press outlets they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

One relative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for the former leader and associates who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "executed before the election".

"Solely at that point the families of those killed [in the protests] will obtain solace in their minds."

Following her removal, an temporary leadership led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A national vote is scheduled for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Hasina's political party, the former ruling party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were banned from standing in the imminent electoral process, numerous would avoid the ballot.

This decision presents a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has asked her return but to date India has expressed no readiness to comply.

Her officially designated attorney the defense lawyer said he was "sad [and wishes] the outcome had varied".

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; that's why I am disheartened," he continued.

The previous week, her legal team said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN raising major judicial fairness and judicial process problems at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial in conjunction with her previous domestic affairs official and police chief.

Even though the verdict provides certain resolution to kin of victims in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the nation's partisan rifts.

"The fury directed at the former leader and the Awami League has not diminished," a Dhaka-based rights activist stated to news organizations. "Neither she nor the party has expressed regret or shown any remorse for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "This complicates matters for the faction to gain approval by a bulk of the population in this state."

The advocate continued that the punishment was not finality for the kin of those who died and were wounded.

"We assist several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, because of the suppression. They cannot pardon her."

David Bergman, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "fundamental aspect of the condemnation could make it increasingly challenging" for Awami League to become a normal feature of Bangladeshi politics again.

This might transform if "an expression of regret occurs and a distancing from Sheikh Hasina and the previous administration," he expressed.