Hasina sentenced to death for crimes against humanity

Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal for “crimes against humanity” over her government’s brutal crackdown on student-led protests last year. In its verdict that followed a months-long trial, the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) described the 78-year-old Awami League leader as the “mastermind and principal architect” of the violent repression that killed hundreds of protesters. Hasina has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests. She was earlier declared a fugitive by the court. In her reaction, Hasina said the judgement has been made by a “rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate.” Meanwhilw, Bangladesh’s interim government on Monday urged India to immediately extradite deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, hours after a special tribunal sentenced them to death in absentia for “crimes against humanity”. “We urge the Indian government to immediately hand over these two convicted individuals to the Bangladeshi authorities,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, according to the state-run BSS news agency. It said the existing bilateral extradition agreement between Bangladesh and India marks the transfer of the two convicts as a compulsory responsibility for New Delhi. @@@@