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The country's previous leader has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity due to her severe measures on student-led protests which resulted in her ousting.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom died during the disturbances last year.

Legal proceedings were conducted in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India following her ouster in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being behind hundreds of killings during the protests. Hasina has denied the entire case, labeling the proceedings as "biased and politically motivated".

The decision signifies a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests brought forth resentment over years of repression. Next of kin of victims and injured had demanded tough penalties.

Answering the judgment in a detailed document, she expressed the execution sentence was the temporary leadership's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a electoral entity and that she was content of her administration's performance on civil liberties.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the proof can be evaluated and reviewed impartially."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under tightened security before the verdict on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina holding a protest and cheering as the verdict was read.

The capital witnessed a recent spike in disturbances, with numerous incendiary devices set off and coaches ignited in the period preceding the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, local police official Jisanul Haque told news organizations.

The protest movement led by students during 2024 commenced through requests to remove government job quotas but transformed into a wider anti-government movement.

United Nations rights examiners stated in a document in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could constitute "crimes against humanity".

The paper detailed the gunfire from minimal distance of some protesters, the deliberate maiming of further participants, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina verified 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 proceedings.

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

One relative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for the former leader and associates who have "committed acts of vengeance and exploited their positions".

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

"Solely at that point the families of those killed [in the protests] will obtain solace in their souls."

Since Hasina's ousting, an interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A national vote is scheduled for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Hasina's political party, her political faction, was outlawed by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

Hasina warned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were prohibited from running in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the election.

This decision presents a international dilemma for both nations. Authorities have sought her return but to date India has shown no willingness to agree.

Her officially designated attorney the defense lawyer said he was "unhappy and desiring the verdict had been different".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; for that reason I am sad," he added.

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

Hasina was tried together with her ex-interior minister and top law enforcement officer.

Although the punishment provides certain resolution to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may do little to soothe the nation's partisan rifts.

"The fury directed at the former leader and the her political party has not subsided," a Dhaka-based rights activist stated to press agencies. "Both she and the organization has expressed regret or shown any remorse for the deaths of numerous individuals."

The advocate declared "It makes it difficult for the faction to gain approval by a most citizens in this state."

The activist added that the sentence was not resolution for the relatives of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist multiple individuals who suffered permanent amputations, they are currently without limbs, 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 particularly hard" for Awami League to become a standard element of the country's governance system again.

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