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Bangladesh's former prime minister has been handed capital punishment for atrocities stemming from her severe measures on student-led protests which led to her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of authorizing deadly measures to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom lost their lives during the unrest during 2024.

Hasina was tried while she was absent by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being the mastermind of multiple fatalities during the protests. She has refuted all charges, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

This judgment represents a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over years of repression. Families of those killed and wounded had called for strict sentences.

Answering the judgment 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 electoral entity and that she was content of her leadership's history on human rights.

"I have no trepidation to meet my challengers in a fair court where the facts can be assessed and tested fairly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the tribunal took place, was under tightened security prior to the ruling on Monday, with several of her detractors holding a protest and celebrating as the judgment was announced.

The capital witnessed a sudden increase in unrest, with multiple explosives detonated and public transport vehicles burned in the days leading up to the verdict.

A minimum of one detonation was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, local police official Jisanul Haque told media outlets.

The youth-driven revolt in the previous year began with calls to eliminate public sector reservation policies but evolved into a wider anti-government movement.

UN human rights investigators declared in an analysis in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could represent "crimes against humanity".

The study recorded the gunfire from minimal distance of a number of activists, the deliberate maiming of further participants, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment.

Unauthorized recordings of a call made by the former leader authenticated by external reviews during the current year suggested she had authorized the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the proceedings.

Ahead of the verdict, family members of those killed during the protests stated to news agencies they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for Hasina and others who have "performed revengeful deeds and exploited their positions".

Another relative, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "implemented before the election".

"Only then the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will obtain solace in their minds."

Following her removal, an caretaker administration under the guidance of economist Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A national vote is scheduled for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the Awami League, Hasina's political party, was outlawed by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

The former leader cautioned last month that if the the League's representatives were prohibited from running in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the vote.

The verdict now poses a foreign relations issue for the neighboring countries. Authorities have sought her extradition but until now India has expressed no readiness to agree.

Her officially designated attorney her legal counsel said he was "disappointed and hoping the outcome had varied".

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

The previous week, Hasina's lawyers said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN pointing out major judicial fairness and legal procedure concerns at the ICT.

Hasina was tried together with her previous domestic affairs official and security forces head.

While the sentence offers some closure to families of killed in the protests, it may do little to soothe the nation's partisan rifts.

"The anger against the former leader and the the former ruling faction has not decreased," a human rights advocate from the capital told media outlets. "Neither she nor the party has said sorry or demonstrated contrition for the fatalities of countless citizens."

The activist stated "This complicates matters for the party to be accepted by a bulk of the population in this state."

The advocate continued that the penalty was not finality for the kin of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We support several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are currently without limbs, due to the crackdown. They will never be able to forgive her."

A journalist, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "fundamental aspect of the condemnation could make it particularly hard" for Awami League to become a standard element of the nation's political landscape again.

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