Megaphones mounted on rickshaws broadcast the verdict which found Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to death, but the hundreds of people waiting outside the entrance to Dhaka’s high court were slow to react.
Few understood the English-language ruling, which was competing with the usual honking of horns from the main road behind them, and the chatter that surrounded small-scale businesses selling tea, snacks and cigarettes.
“The killer Hasina got death-sentenced, we just got the verdict,” one group eventually started chanting. A man, carrying a poster showing Hasina’s neck in a noose, took off a shoe and began hitting her face with it. “I am the happiest ever, I just heard about the news,” he shouted. Another group – which included students and lawyers – began to pray.
Hasina, who fled to India in August last year, was tried in absentia in Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, where the 78-year-old was found guilty of crimes including incitement, inaction to prevent atrocities and giving orders to kill, including the use of drones, helicopters and lethal weapons against protesters. She called the verdict “biased and politically motivated”, and said she is not afraid to face her accusers “in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly”.
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Protests erupted in the middle of last year, turning from a student movement, angry about how government jobs were distributed, into an uprising against Hasina, who had been in power for 15 years straight, and for five years before that. The resulting crackdown led to as many as 1,400 deaths, according to UN figures.
“I want her to be hung again and again, even after she’s died,” said Mobinul Islam (47), who had been standing outside Dhaka’s high court from early morning.
“I’m a general, simple man and I want Bangladesh to be in peace forever.”
Mohammad Shahparan Sayem from the July Revolutionary Alliance, which was involved in organising protests, said he still had problems with his head and neck after being injured and had seen people killed around him. “The whole world is watching and waiting for this decision,” he said. “It was a very bad thing for the people, what happened in 2024.”
Nearby was Amatullah Sharmeen (43), the daughter of Abdul Quader Mollah, a senior politician with the party Jamaat-e-Islami. Mollah – the first person to be sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal – was executed in December 2013 when Hasina was prime minister.
“I’m excited,” Sharmeen said before Hasina’s verdict. “We want justice for my father ... We want justice for every single dead person ... We want the death sentence.” She said she would like to see the “international community” force Hasina to come back.
More than 100 journalists also waited for the verdict from early in the day.
“This is really significant in so many ways,” said Fakhrul Islam (35), who works for Bangladesh’s Daily Jugantor newspaper. As well as leading the country, Hasina was the daughter of the founding president of Bangladesh, he pointed out.
Islam said he does not know what will happen next, as “it depends on her party, how they react”. Elections are expected to take place in February.
In the weeks leading up to the verdict, residents of Dhaka were on edge, with a spate of arson attacks and crude bomb explosions thought to have been carried out by supporters of Hasina. Her Awami League party has been barred from taking part in the upcoming elections.
Shah Jalal Miah (40), a travel agent and politician who expects to be a parliamentary candidate for the Gono Odhikar Parishad party, said he hoped Monday’s verdict would make others realise that “no one can become a Sheikh Hasina in our country,” because the same would happen to them.
He also said the international community has a role to play by keeping attention on Bangladesh to “protect our poor people”.
“We’re depending on outside sources because if outside sources don’t protect us we can’t survive the devil. If you hear of something happening in Bangladesh I ask you to come and expose it.”
Bangladesh – with a population of roughly 173 million people – has an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. In a statement, its ministry of foreign affairs called for India to hand Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan – who was also sentenced to death in absentia – to Bangladeshi authorities, saying it is “an obligation” under an existing extradition treaty.
India said it noted the verdict, was committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh and would “engage constructively”, without going into more detail.
In another statement from its press wing, the interim government called the death sentence a “historic verdict” with “profound” significance, while appealing for calm and restraint, and warning “everyone not to take any action that may disrupt public order under the influence of emotions”.
It said “any attempt to create anarchy, disorder or disturbance of public order will be dealt with strict action.” – Raahat Alam assisted with this reporting
