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The country's previous leader has been given a death sentence for atrocities over her harsh response on student-led protests which resulted in her ousting.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of allowing lethal force to be used against activists, among whom around 1,400 people were killed during the turmoil during 2024.

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

Legal authorities charged her of being the mastermind of numerous deaths during the protests. The former leader rejected all charges, calling the trial as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The verdict marks a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over years of repression. Families of those killed and injured had requested strict sentences.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, the former leader stated the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was proud of her government's record on human rights.

"I do not fear to confront those accusing me in a just legal forum where the facts can be assessed and examined justly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under tightened security ahead of the verdict on Monday, with several of her detractors staging a rally and applauding as the judgment was announced.

The capital witnessed a notable rise in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and coaches ignited in the period preceding the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, regional security representative Jisanul Haque told press agencies.

The youth-driven revolt last year commenced through demands to abolish state employment quotas but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.

United Nations rights examiners said in a report in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could amount to "human rights atrocities".

The paper detailed the firing at close quarters of certain demonstrators, the intentional injuring of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and torture.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina authenticated by investigative sources earlier this year implied she had authorized the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the trial.

Before the decision, relatives of those fatally injured in the unrest informed media representatives they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

One relative, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for Hasina and others who have "committed acts of vengeance and misused their authority".

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

"Only then the kin of victims [in the protests] will achieve closure in their minds."

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

Nevertheless, the Hasina's political party, her political faction, was banned by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

She alerted in the previous month that if the party's candidates were prohibited from running in the upcoming election, numerous would avoid the election.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. Dhaka has formally requested her extradition but to date India has shown no willingness to acquiesce.

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

"I even cannot appeal because my clients are absent; which is why I am sad," he stated further.

The previous week, her legal team said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN raising significant due process and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

Hasina was tried alongside her ex-interior minister and security forces head.

Even though the verdict grants partial finality to families of killed in the protests, it may not significantly ease the state's ideological splits.

"The anger against Hasina and the her political party has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka informed news organizations. "Neither she nor the party has said sorry or demonstrated contrition for the killings of hundreds of people."

The activist stated "This complicates matters for the organization to receive endorsement by a most citizens in this country."

The activist added that the punishment was not closure for the families of those killed and injured.

"We work with numerous persons who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are amputees now, because of the suppression. They are incapable of excusing 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 normal feature of Bangladeshi politics again.

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