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The ex-prime minister of Bangladesh has been given a death sentence for crimes against humanity due to her crackdown on student-led protests which led to her removal from power.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, among whom around 1,400 people lost their lives during the disturbances in the previous year.

Hasina was tried while she was absent by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being responsible for multiple fatalities during the protests. She has refuted the entire case, describing the process as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests brought forth resentment over years of repression. Next of kin of victims and wounded had called for strict sentences.

Answering the judgment in a five-page statement, Hasina said the capital punishment was the caretaker administration's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her leadership's history on civil liberties.

"I have no trepidation to face my accusers in a fair court where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under increased safeguards ahead of the decision on Monday, with several of her detractors staging a rally and applauding as the sentence was declared.

The city has seen a sudden increase in turmoil, with dozens of bombs exploded and coaches ignited in the days leading up to the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, regional security representative the authorities' representative told media outlets.

The protest movement led by students during 2024 commenced through demands to abolish government job quotas but morphed into a broader opposition campaign.

International human rights monitors declared in an analysis in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could constitute "violations of human dignity".

The paper detailed the gunfire from minimal distance of a number of activists, the deliberate maiming of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and abuse.

Unauthorized recordings of a call made by the former leader authenticated by investigative sources earlier this year implied she had sanctioned the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the legal process.

Ahead of the verdict, relatives of those fatally injured in the unrest stated to media representatives they wanted the former leader to face strict penalties.

A family representative, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for the former leader and associates who have "engaged in retaliatory actions 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 "implemented before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will obtain solace in their hearts."

After her departure, an caretaker administration led by economist Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A parliamentary election is set for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the her former political organization, the former ruling party, was banned by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

She alerted during the past month that if the the League's representatives were banned from standing in the upcoming election, numerous would avoid the vote.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for the neighboring countries. Dhaka has formally requested her repatriation but to date India has demonstrated no inclination to acquiesce.

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

"I cannot even contest because my defendants are not present; which is why I am disappointed," he added.

The previous week, her legal team said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN pointing out major judicial fairness and due process issues at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina together with her former home minister and police chief.

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

"The anger against Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League has not decreased," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to press agencies. "Both she and the organization has apologised or shown any remorse for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "This creates challenges for the faction to gain approval by a majority of people in this state."

The advocate continued that the punishment was not finality for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are amputees now, because of the suppression. They cannot pardon her."

An analyst, an observer of Bangladeshi affairs, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for her party to become a standard element of Bangladeshi politics again.

This could alter if "there is some kind of apology and a distancing from Sheikh Hasina and the former hierarchy," he expressed.