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Bangladesh's former prime minister has been handed capital punishment for human rights violations due to her harsh response on student-led protests which caused her ousting.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, among whom around 1,400 people were killed during the unrest in the previous year.

Legal proceedings were conducted without her presence by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, since she went into exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being behind multiple fatalities during the protests. She has refuted the entire case, describing the process as "unfair and agenda-driven".

This judgment represents a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests revealed fury over long-standing suppression. Relatives of the deceased and injured had called for strict sentences.

Answering the judgment in a comprehensive declaration, 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 proud of her government's record on civil liberties.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a fair court where the proof can be evaluated and tested fairly."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under increased safeguards prior to the decision on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics holding a protest and applauding as the verdict was read.

The capital witnessed a sudden increase in unrest, with multiple explosives detonated and buses set on fire in the time before the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, local police official the police spokesperson stated to media outlets.

The youth-driven revolt in the previous year started with demands to abolish state employment quotas but evolved into a wider anti-government movement.

International human rights monitors declared in an analysis in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could amount to "violations of human dignity".

The study recorded the gunfire from minimal distance of some protesters, the intentional injuring of others, unjustified apprehensions and torture.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina verified by investigative sources earlier this year implied she had sanctioned the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The audio was played in court during the trial.

Prior to the ruling, kin 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 the former leader and associates who have "performed revengeful deeds and misused their authority".

Lucky Akther, whose spouse died near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "implemented before the election".

"Only then the relatives of the deceased [in the protests] will find peace in their minds."

Since Hasina's ousting, an temporary leadership led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A parliamentary election is planned for February 2026.

Nevertheless, the Hasina's political party, the former ruling party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were barred from participating in the imminent electoral process, countless would abstain the election.

The verdict now poses a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has asked her extradition but to date India has expressed no readiness to agree.

Her officially designated attorney Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "unhappy and desiring the decision had been otherwise".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; that's why I am disappointed," he added.

Last week, Hasina's lawyers said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN pointing out serious fair trial and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina together with her previous domestic affairs official and police chief.

Although the punishment grants partial finality to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may have minimal effect on calming the state's ideological splits.

"The fury directed at the former leader and the the former ruling faction has not subsided," a human rights advocate from the capital informed news organizations. "Neither she nor the party has expressed regret or shown any remorse for the deaths of numerous individuals."

The activist stated "It makes it difficult for the organization to receive endorsement by a most citizens in this nation."

The activist added that the penalty was not closure for the families of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We assist several people who lost their limbs forever, they are currently without limbs, because of the suppression. They are incapable of excusing her."

A journalist, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for the political faction to become a normal feature of the country's governance system again.

This may change if "an expression of regret occurs and a distancing from Hasina and the old leadership," he said.