Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is also the aunt of Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, has been sentenced to death after she was convicted of crimes against humanity.
It comes after a months-long trial in Bangladesh, which found her guilty of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising in 2024.
Ms Hasina was tried in absentia as she is exiled in India. She is the aunt of former UK Government minister Tulip Siddiq, who stepped down from her Treasury job earlier this year.
The United Nations said up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the violence.
Bangladesh’s health adviser in the interim Government said more than 800 people were killed and roughly 14,000 were left injured.
Protests by the students initially began over the way Government jobs were being allocated.
Clashes with police and pro-Government activists then escalated into violence.
Conversations of Ms Hasina directing security officers to drop bombs from helicopters on protesters was revealed in court.
Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death
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PAThe court was told the former Prime Minister also allowed the use of lethal weapons, including shotguns.
Ms Hasina has previously referred to the tribunal as a “kangaroo court”.
She fled to India in August 2024 at the height of the uprising, ending 15 years in the job.
Ms Hasina said the ruling was “biased and politically motivated” in a statement after the verdict.
Sheikh Hasina is the aunt of Labour’s Tulip Siddiq
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GETTY“I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where evidence can be weighed and tested fairly,” she added.
The former Prime Minister is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
He led Bangladesh to independence.
The International Crimes Tribunal, the country’s domestic war crimes court in Dhaka, delivered its four-hour verdict.
Ms Hasina received a life sentence under charges for crimes against humanity.
She received the death penalty for the killing of a number of people during the uprising.
The verdict was broadcast live on state television.
It can be appealed in the Supreme Court.
The courtroom was packed as people cheered and clapped as the sentence was delivered.
Former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan – who is also exiled in India – was also sentenced to death.
A former Police Chief was sentenced to five years in prison as he became a state witness against Ms Hasina and pleaded guilty.
It is the most significant legal action against a former leader since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971.
Foreign Ministry officials have requested India to hand Ms Hasina over.
GB News has contacted Ms Siddiq’s team.
The MP was also said to be facing a corruption trial in Bangladesh, previously telling Sky News in August that allegations were “nothing more than a farce”.
