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The country's previous leader has been handed capital punishment for crimes against humanity due to her harsh response on protests led by students 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 turmoil during 2024.

The trial proceeded while she was absent by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, having been exiled in India following her ouster in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being the mastermind of numerous deaths during the protests. The former leader rejected the entire case, calling the trial as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

The decision signifies a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests brought forth resentment over extended periods of oppression. Families of those killed and wounded had called for strict sentences.

Answering the judgment in a comprehensive declaration, she expressed the capital punishment was the temporary leadership's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was content of her administration's performance on human rights.

"I do not fear to confront those accusing me in a fair court where the facts can be assessed and tested fairly."

Bangladesh's main city, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under enhanced protection ahead of the decision on Monday, with several of her detractors staging a rally and cheering as the judgment was announced.

The capital witnessed a recent spike in unrest, with multiple explosives detonated and buses set on fire in the period preceding the verdict.

One explosive incident was noted in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, local police official the authorities' representative informed news organizations.

The student-led uprising in the previous year commenced through calls to eliminate state employment quotas but morphed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

UN human rights investigators stated in a document in February that the approximately 1,400 deaths could represent "human rights atrocities".

The paper detailed the shooting at point-blank range of a number of activists, the intentional injuring of others, unjustified apprehensions and abuse.

Disclosed sound files of a telephone conversation involving Hasina authenticated by investigative sources during the current year suggested she had approved the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the legal process.

Prior to the ruling, kin of those who died in the demonstrations told news agencies they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

Ramjan Ali, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for the former leader and associates who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and misused their authority".

Lucky Akther, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "carried out before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the families of those killed [in the protests] will achieve closure in their hearts."

After her departure, an interim government headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A general election is set for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the her former political organization, the former ruling party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's temporary leadership in May.

She alerted last month that if the party's candidates were prohibited from running in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the election.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for both nations. The Bangladesh government has asked her extradition but until now India has shown no willingness to agree.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "unhappy and desiring the outcome had varied".

"I even cannot appeal because my defendants are not present; which is why I am sad," he stated further.

Last week, her legal team said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN raising serious fair trial and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina together with her previous domestic affairs official and top law enforcement officer.

Even though the verdict provides certain resolution to kin of victims in the protests, it may not significantly ease the state's ideological splits.

"The fury directed at Hasina and the her political party has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka told press agencies. "Both she and the organization has apologised or shown any remorse for the fatalities of countless citizens."

She said "It makes it difficult for the faction to gain approval by a most citizens in this country."

The campaigner further stated that the penalty was not finality for the kin of those killed and injured.

"We work with several people who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are now disabled, due to the crackdown. They are incapable of excusing her."

David Bergman, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "fundamental aspect of the condemnation could make it increasingly challenging" for her party to become a normal feature of Bangladeshi politics again.

This could alter if "a form of contrition emerges and a separation from Hasina and the former hierarchy," he expressed.