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The country's previous leader has been given a death sentence for crimes against humanity stemming from her crackdown on youth demonstrations which led to her removal from power.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of authorizing deadly measures to be used against demonstrators, with approximately 1,400 individuals lost their lives during the unrest in the previous year.

The trial proceeded in absentia by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India following her ouster in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being the mastermind of multiple fatalities during the protests. The former leader rejected all charges, labeling the proceedings as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over extended periods of oppression. Next of kin of victims and wounded had called for severe punishments.

Answering the judgment in a detailed document, the former leader stated the capital punishment was the interim government's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her leadership's history on civil liberties.

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

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under enhanced protection before the verdict on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina holding a protest and cheering as the judgment was announced.

The capital witnessed a notable rise in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and buses set on fire in the time before the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, area law enforcement officer the police spokesperson stated to press agencies.

The student-led uprising in the previous year began with calls to eliminate state employment quotas but morphed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

International human rights monitors said in a report in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could constitute "crimes against humanity".

The report documented the firing at close quarters of certain demonstrators, the intentional injuring of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and torture.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina confirmed by external reviews in previous months indicated she had approved the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the legal process.

Before the decision, family members of those fatally injured in the unrest told media representatives they wanted the former leader to face strict penalties.

One relative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for Hasina and others who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "implemented before the election".

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

After her departure, an temporary leadership led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A national vote is scheduled for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the her former political organization, her political faction, was outlawed by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

Hasina warned during the past month that if the party's candidates were banned from standing in the imminent electoral process, countless would abstain the ballot.

The verdict now poses a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. Dhaka has formally requested her repatriation but until now India has expressed no readiness to acquiesce.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "unhappy and desiring the verdict had been different".

"I am unable to challenge because my represented individuals are away; which is why I am disheartened," he continued.

The previous week, her legal team said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN highlighting significant due process and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

Hasina was tried together with her ex-interior minister and top law enforcement officer.

While the sentence grants partial finality 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 decreased," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to press agencies. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or demonstrated contrition for the deaths of numerous individuals."

The activist stated "This creates challenges for the party to be accepted by a most citizens in this nation."

The activist added that the sentence was not finality for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We work with several people who lost their limbs forever, they are now disabled, as a result of the harsh measures. They cannot pardon her."

David Bergman, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, 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 "there is some kind of apology and a separation from Sheikh Hasina and the old leadership," he expressed.