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The country's previous leader has been handed capital punishment for crimes against humanity due to her crackdown on student-led protests which resulted in her forced departure.

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

The trial proceeded without her presence by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being responsible for hundreds of killings during the protests. She has refuted all charges, describing the process as "biased and politically motivated".

This judgment represents a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over extended periods of oppression. Relatives of the deceased and harmed had called for severe punishments.

Answering the judgment in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a governing body and that she was proud of her administration's performance on individual freedoms.

"I do not fear to meet my challengers in a just legal forum where the facts can be assessed and tested fairly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under increased safeguards prior to the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics organizing a demonstration and celebrating as the sentence was declared.

The capital witnessed a sudden increase in unrest, with multiple explosives detonated and buses set on fire in the time before the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was reported 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 requests to remove state employment quotas but evolved into a broader opposition campaign.

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

The study recorded the shooting at point-blank range of a number of activists, the intentional injuring of additional individuals, unwarranted detentions and mistreatment.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina verified by external reviews during the current year suggested she had approved the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the legal process.

Before the decision, relatives of those killed during the protests told media representatives they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for Hasina and others who have "committed acts of vengeance and misused their authority".

A different family member, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "carried out before the election".

"Only then the families of those killed [in the protests] will achieve closure in their souls."

Since Hasina's ousting, an caretaker administration under the guidance of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A general election is scheduled for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the Awami League, the former ruling party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

She alerted during the past month that if the her faction's nominees were prohibited from running in the imminent electoral process, numerous would avoid the election.

The verdict now poses a international dilemma for both nations. The Bangladesh government has asked her repatriation but until now India has demonstrated no inclination to acquiesce.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "disappointed and hoping the outcome had varied".

"I am unable to challenge because my represented individuals are away; for that reason I am sad," he added.

Recently, the defense attorneys said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN raising major judicial fairness and due process issues at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina together with her former home minister and security forces head.

While the sentence provides certain resolution to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the nation's partisan rifts.

"The resentment towards Sheikh Hasina and the her political party has not subsided," a Dhaka-based rights activist told media outlets. "Both she and the organization has said sorry or shown any remorse for the fatalities of countless citizens."

The advocate declared "This complicates matters for the faction to gain approval by a bulk of the population in this country."

The activist added that the sentence was not resolution for the relatives of those killed and injured.

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

An analyst, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it even more difficult" for the political faction to become a regular participant of Bangladeshi politics again.

This might transform if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from Hasina and the previous administration," he said.