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The country's previous leader has been sentenced to death for human rights violations due to her severe measures on youth demonstrations which led to her forced departure.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of permitting fatal actions to be used against activists, 1,400 of whom died during the turmoil in the previous year.

Hasina was tried without her presence by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being the mastermind of numerous deaths during the protests. She has refuted the entire case, labeling the proceedings as "unfair and agenda-driven".

This judgment represents a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over years of repression. Relatives of the deceased and harmed had demanded severe punishments.

Answering the judgment in a comprehensive declaration, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was satisfied of her leadership's history on human rights.

"I have no trepidation to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the proof can be evaluated and tested fairly."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under enhanced protection before the verdict on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina organizing a demonstration and applauding as the sentence was declared.

Dhaka experienced a recent spike in turmoil, with numerous incendiary devices set off and public transport vehicles burned in the time before the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, area law enforcement officer the police spokesperson told press agencies.

The protest movement led by students during 2024 started with demands to abolish public sector reservation policies but morphed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

UN human rights investigators stated in a document in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could amount to "human rights atrocities".

The report documented the firing at close quarters of certain demonstrators, the purposeful disabling of additional individuals, arbitrary arrests and abuse.

Disclosed sound files of a call made by the former leader authenticated by investigative sources in previous months suggested she had approved the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the trial.

Before the decision, kin of those who died in the demonstrations stated to press outlets they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

One relative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for the former leader and associates who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and abused their power".

Lucky Akther, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "carried out before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the kin of victims [in the protests] will find peace in their souls."

After her departure, an caretaker administration under the guidance of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A general election is scheduled for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the her former political organization, the former ruling party, was outlawed by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were barred from participating in the upcoming election, millions would boycott the election.

The verdict now poses a diplomatic challenge for both nations. Dhaka has formally requested her repatriation but to date India has demonstrated no inclination to agree.

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

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; for that reason I am sad," he stated further.

Recently, her legal team said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN highlighting serious fair trial and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina together with her previous domestic affairs official and top law enforcement officer.

While the sentence offers some closure to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the country's political divisions.

"The fury directed at Sheikh Hasina and the her political party has not decreased," a Dhaka-based rights activist told media outlets. "Neither she nor the party has expressed regret or displayed repentance for the fatalities of countless citizens."

She said "This creates challenges for the organization to receive endorsement by a most citizens in this state."

The campaigner further stated that the punishment was not finality for the families of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We work with multiple individuals who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are amputees now, because of the suppression. They will never be able to forgive her."

An analyst, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "fundamental aspect of the condemnation could make it particularly hard" for the political faction to become a regular participant of the nation's political landscape again.

This may change if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from the former leader and the previous administration," he expressed.