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The country's previous leader has been handed capital punishment for atrocities over her crackdown on protests led by students which resulted in her removal from power.

The court convicted Sheikh Hasina of permitting fatal actions to be used against activists, with approximately 1,400 individuals died during the turmoil last year.

Legal proceedings were conducted in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India following her ouster in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being the mastermind of hundreds of killings during the protests. She has refuted every accusation, calling the trial as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over long-standing suppression. Relatives of the deceased and harmed had called for severe punishments.

Responding to the decision in a five-page statement, the former leader stated the death penalty was the temporary leadership's way of "eliminating her political faction" as a political force and that she was satisfied of her government's record on individual freedoms.

"I have no trepidation to confront those accusing me in a just legal forum where the proof can be evaluated and reviewed impartially."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under increased safeguards prior to the decision on Monday, with numerous opponents of Hasina organizing a demonstration and applauding as the sentence was declared.

The city has seen a sudden increase in disturbances, with numerous incendiary devices set off and coaches ignited in the period preceding the verdict.

One explosive incident was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, area law enforcement officer the police spokesperson told media outlets.

The protest movement led by students last year began with calls to eliminate government job quotas but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.

United Nations rights examiners declared in an analysis in February that the around 1,400 fatalities could represent "human rights atrocities".

The report documented the gunfire from minimal distance of certain demonstrators, the purposeful disabling of others, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment.

Unauthorized recordings of a call made by the former leader confirmed by external reviews in previous months indicated she had authorized the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the trial.

Ahead of the verdict, relatives of those who died in the demonstrations stated to press outlets they wanted strict consequences for Hasina.

Ramjan Ali, whose brother was shot dead in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for her and co-accused who have "committed acts of vengeance and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "carried out before the election".

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

Since Hasina's ousting, an interim government under the guidance of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A general election is set for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the her former political organization, Hasina's political party, was outlawed by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

The former leader cautioned last month that if the party's candidates were barred from participating in the upcoming election, millions would boycott the ballot.

This decision presents a foreign relations issue for both nations. The Bangladesh government has asked her return but to date India has demonstrated no inclination to acquiesce.

The legal representative assigned to her the defense lawyer said he was "unhappy and desiring the verdict had been different".

"I am unable to challenge because my defendants are not present; which is why I am sad," he continued.

The previous week, the defense attorneys said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN pointing out major judicial fairness and due process issues at the ICT.

Hasina was tried in conjunction with her previous domestic affairs official and police chief.

Even though the verdict offers some closure to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the nation's partisan rifts.

"The fury directed at the former leader and the the former ruling faction has not decreased," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka stated to press agencies. "Neither she nor the party has apologised or demonstrated contrition for the deaths of numerous individuals."

She said "This complicates matters for the party to be accepted by a most citizens in this country."

The activist added that the sentence was not finality for the families of those killed and injured.

"We work with multiple individuals who lost their limbs forever, they are amputees now, as a result of the harsh measures. They will never be able to forgive her."

An analyst, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "very nature of the conviction could make it even more difficult" for her party to become a normal feature of Bangladeshi politics again.

This might transform if "an expression of regret occurs and a distancing from the former leader and the previous administration," he expressed.