Sheikh Hasina: Verdict biased, politically motivated

DHAKA: Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by a tribunal for "crimes against humanity" over her govt's crackdown on a "nationwide mass uprising" last year that led to her ouster.

She was accused of crimes such as murder, attempted murder and torture, and other inhumane acts as well as ordering the use of lethal weapons, helicopters and drones to subdue protesters.The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal's (ICT) verdict, which came months before the parliamentary election, described Hasina, 78, as the "mastermind and principal architect" of the violent repression that killed hundreds of protesters, including students.

Hasina, whose Awami League has been barred from contesting the poll scheduled to be held in Feb, fled to India in Aug 5 last year amid the unrest.In a statement, Hasina described the ICT as a "rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected govt with no democratic mandate", referring to the Muhammad Yunus-led interim govt. The judgment is "biased and politically motivated" and "in their distasteful call for death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim govt to remove Bangladesh's last elected PM and nullify Awami League as a political force," Hasina said.

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The ICT also handed death sentence to her close aide and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on similar charges. The third accused in the case and former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who testified as a state witness, was sentenced to five years in prison.Hasina said the charges were unjustified, arguing that she and Khan "acted in good faith and were trying to minimise the loss of life.

We lost control of the situation, but to characterise what happened as a premeditated assault on citizens is simply to misread the facts." Her Awami League party called for a national shutdown on Tuesday to protest the verdict. Hasina cannot appeal the verdict unless she surrenders or is arrested within 30 days of the judgment.The three-member tribunal, headed by chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder, began delivering the verdict around 12.30pm, which was broadcast on state-owned BTV. Some of those in the packed courtroom cheered when Hasina was sentenced to death. He admonished them. In a statement, Yunus said the verdict offered justice to those who were harmed in the uprising: "No one, regardless of power, is above the law." The BNP, headed by former PM Khaleda Zia, hailed the verdict.

In a message to AP, Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed said the "verdict is a joke and meaningless."