Dhaka, Sept 15. (dpa/GNA) – A special court in Bangladesh has sentenced seven aides of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death, for crimes committed during the 2024 uprising that brought an end to Hasina’s 15-year rule.
A three-member panel of judges of the International Crimes Tribunal, handed the death penalty to Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the Awami League, and six other leaders of the party and its affiliated organizations, Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam said on Tuesday. They were convicted in absentia of committing crimes against humanity during the suppression of the month-long uprising in July and August 2024, he said.
A UN estimate says some 1,400 people were killed during the violent uprising. The court also ordered the confiscation of assets belonging to five of the convicts, to partially fund the rehabilitation of the families of those killed and injured during the uprising.
The prosecution charged Quader with instigating activists of his party and its affiliated organizations, to act against the protesters. He was also accused of ordering an internet slowdown, directing security forces to fire from helicopters and issuing a “shoot-on-sight” order.
An interim administration in Bangladesh headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which took over after Hasina’s ouster, banned all activities of the Awami League party in May 2025.
Hasina, who is now in exile in India, was sentenced to death by the same court in November, for the brutal suppression of the uprising.
GNA