Rigged tribunal delivered verdict: Hasina, Dhaka asks India to return her

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday reacted to the verdict against her, calling it the decision of a “rigged tribunal” established and run by an unelected government with no democratic mandate. Neither I nor other political leaders ordered the killing of protestors, she claimed. Hasina added she was not given fair chance to defend myself in court, nor even to have lawyers of her own choice represent her in absentia.

A Bangladesh court on Monday afternoon found ousted former PM Hasina guilty of committing “crimes against humanity” during the July-August uprising in 2024. Local media reported that the International Crimes Tribunal-1 has sentenced Hasina to death. After the verdict, the interim government asked India to “immediately hand over” Hasina.

Hasina said in a statement shared by the Bangladesh Awami league, “The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate. They are biased and politically motivated. In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove Bangladesh’s last elected prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League as a political force.”

She slammed the administration of Yunus and said, “Millions of Bangladeshis toiling under the chaotic, violent and socially-regressive administration of Dr Mohammad Yunus will not be fooled by this attempt to short-change them of their democratic rights. They can see that the trials conducted by the so-called International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) were never intended to achieve justice or provide any genuine insight into the events of July and August 2025. Rather, their purpose was to scapegoat the Awami League and to distract the world’s attention from the failings of Dr Yunus and his ministers.”

Hasina further added, “Under his aegis, public services have fallen apart. Police have retreated from the country’s crime-ridden streets and judicial fairness has been subverted, with attacks on Awami League adherents going unpunished. Hindus and other religious minorities are assaulted, and women’s rights suppressed. Islamic extremists inside the administration, including figures from Hizb-ut-Tahrir, seek to undermine Bangladesh’s long tradition of secular government. Journalists are locked up and menaced, economic growth has stalled, and Yunus has delayed elections and then banned the country’s most longstanding party (the Awami League) from participating in those elections.”