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Bangladesh's former prime minister has been sentenced to death for atrocities stemming from her harsh response on youth demonstrations which led to her removal from power.

Hasina was declared culpable of permitting fatal actions to be used against demonstrators, 1,400 of whom lost their lives during the turmoil last year.

Legal proceedings were conducted without her presence by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being behind hundreds of killings during the protests. The former leader rejected all charges, describing the process as "biased and politically motivated".

This judgment represents a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over years of repression. Families of those killed and wounded had demanded strict sentences.

Reacting to the verdict in a detailed document, she expressed the execution sentence was the temporary leadership's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was satisfied of her leadership's history on civil liberties.

"I do not fear to meet my challengers in a fair court where the facts can be assessed and reviewed impartially."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under enhanced protection before the decision on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina staging a rally and celebrating as the sentence was declared.

The city has seen a sudden increase in turmoil, 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 no victims identified, local police official the police spokesperson stated to news organizations.

The student-led uprising in the previous year commenced through requests to remove government job quotas but morphed into a broader opposition campaign.

UN human rights investigators said in a report in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could constitute "violations of human dignity".

The study recorded the firing at close quarters of some protesters, the deliberate maiming of further participants, arbitrary arrests and abuse.

Unauthorized recordings of a telephone conversation involving Hasina confirmed by investigative sources during the current year suggested she had approved the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the trial.

Prior to the ruling, family members of those killed during the protests told news agencies they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for the former leader and associates who have "performed revengeful deeds and misused their authority".

A different family member, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "carried out before the election".

"Solely at that point the kin of victims [in the protests] will find peace in their minds."

Since Hasina's ousting, an caretaker administration headed by economic expert Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A parliamentary election is set for February 2026.

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

The former leader cautioned last month that if the her faction's nominees were banned from standing in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the vote.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for the neighboring countries. Authorities have sought her extradition but until now India has expressed no readiness to acquiesce.

The legal representative assigned to her Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "sad [and wishes] the verdict had been different".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; that's why I am sad," he continued.

The previous week, her legal team said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN raising significant due process and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina together with her former home minister and top law enforcement officer.

Even though the verdict offers some closure to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may do little to soothe the state's ideological splits.

"The resentment towards Sheikh Hasina and the the former ruling faction has not decreased," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to news organizations. "Both she and the organization has apologised or displayed repentance for the deaths of numerous individuals."

She said "It makes it difficult for the organization to receive endorsement by a bulk of the population in this state."

The activist added that the penalty was not resolution for the families of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, as a result of the harsh measures. They will never be able to forgive her."

A journalist, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it particularly hard" for her party to become a standard element of the country's governance system again.

This may change if "there is some kind of apology and a distancing from Sheikh Hasina and the former hierarchy," he stated.