Bangladesh Sentences Seven Hasina-Era Leaders To Death

A Bangladesh court sentenced seven senior leaders of the former ruling party, including two ex-ministers, to death in absentia on Tuesday for their role in trying to crush the 2024 uprising.

The seven men, members of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, were convicted of crimes against humanity, including murder, as well as instigating and provoking killings.

They include the party’s former general secretary, Obaidul Quader, as well as fellow former minister Mohammad Ali Arafat. They were sentenced by a three-member tribunal headed by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury.

“We are happy with the verdict,” said prosecutor Md Aminul Islam.

As many as 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024, according to the United Nations, when Hasina’s government attempted to suppress the student-led uprising.

Hasina’s 15-year, iron-fisted rule ended in August 2024, when she fled her palace by helicopter to neighbouring India — where she remains in hiding.

She was sentenced to death by hanging in absentia in November 2025.

State-appointed defence lawyer M Hasan Imam said the seven men were not directly involved in the killings and that the court could have handed down a lesser sentence than death.

“They were not directly involved in the killings, they have been convicted due to their fellow activists and supporters,” he said.

The other five men are AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash, Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, Saddam Hussain and Sheikh Wali Asif Enan.

The court also ordered that half the assets of five of the men be distributed as compensation to the families of those killed or injured in the uprising.

Tuesday’s sentencing brings the total number convicted in trials connected to the 2024 protests to 68. Of those, 22 have been sentenced to death, though only four are in custody.

Hasina has refused to accept the authority of the court.

The government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, which won a landslide victory in February in the first elections since Hasina was ousted, has requested her extradition.

But Hasina, 78, has said she will return of her own volition to Bangladesh in December, despite the death sentence she faces.

AFP

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