
Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Wednesday sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to six months in prison in a contempt of court case—marking the first formal conviction against the former Awami League leader since her departure from office 11 months ago.
The three-member ICT-1 bench, led by Chairman Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, delivered the verdict at the Dhaka-based tribunal. In the same ruling, the court sentenced now-banned Bangladesh Students’ League (BSL) leader Shakil Akand Bulbul from Gobindaganj in Gaibandha to two months’ imprisonment.
Hasina, who has been living in India since August 2024, did not appear in court.
The contempt verdict follows formal charges brought against Sheikh Hasina and two others in June by Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam and his team. The charges accuse her of being the chief instigator behind mass killings during the July–August 2024 nationwide uprising that led to the fall of her government. The prosecution alleged she ordered a brutal crackdown on protesters, resulting in widespread deaths and injuries across the country.
This comes as part of the ICT’s broader investigation into crimes against humanity during the popular uprising that ousted Hasina’s government. The tribunal, ironically, was established by Hasina herself in 2009 to prosecute war crimes committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War. Under her tenure, six senior leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and one from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party were executed following ICT convictions. However, critics have noted that political violence persisted even under her rule.
According to a report from the UN Human Rights Office, approximately 1,400 people were killed in Bangladesh between July 15 and August 15, 2024—after the collapse of the Awami League government—marking one of the deadliest periods in the country’s recent history.
On August 5, 2024, Sheikh Hasina resigned from her post, vacated her official residence in Dhaka, and fled the country amidst mass protests and civil unrest. Despite a citywide curfew, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets demanding her resignation. She reportedly boarded a helicopter which briefly circled over Indian airspace before landing at a BSF helipad in Agartala. From there, she was flown to Delhi and later taken to the Indian Air Force base in Hindon, where she has remained since.
This six-month contempt verdict is likely to complicate any potential political comeback for Hasina, who remains a fugitive in multiple ongoing cases, including the ICT’s larger trial on charges of crimes against humanity. The tribunal has already published notices asking her to surrender and has confirmed her fugitive status. The development marks a significant chapter in Bangladesh’s turbulent transition from the Hasina era and comes amid the country’s ongoing efforts to rebuild democratic institutions following the 2024 uprising.