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Bangladesh's former prime minister has been handed capital punishment for atrocities due to her crackdown on protests led by students which caused her forced departure.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against demonstrators, with approximately 1,400 individuals lost their lives during the disturbances last year.

The trial proceeded while she was absent by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India following her ouster in July 2024.

Legal authorities charged her of being responsible for multiple fatalities during the protests. Hasina has denied every accusation, labeling the proceedings as "biased and politically motivated".

The decision signifies a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests brought forth resentment over extended periods of oppression. Next of kin of victims and wounded had called for severe punishments.

Reacting to the verdict in a comprehensive declaration, Hasina said the execution sentence was the caretaker administration's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was content of her leadership's history on individual freedoms.

"I have no trepidation to meet my challengers in a fair court where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly."

The capital, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under enhanced protection before the verdict on Monday, with several of her detractors staging a rally and cheering as the verdict was read.

Dhaka experienced a recent spike in unrest, with dozens of bombs exploded and buses set on fire in the time before the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, local police official the police spokesperson informed media outlets.

The protest movement led by students last year commenced through demands to abolish government job quotas but morphed into a broader opposition campaign.

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

The report documented the firing at close quarters of a number of activists, the purposeful disabling of further participants, unjustified apprehensions and mistreatment.

Unauthorized recordings of one of Hasina's phone calls confirmed by media examinations in previous months indicated she had approved the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the legal process.

Before the decision, family members of those who died in the demonstrations informed press outlets they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "exemplary punishment" for Hasina and others who have "committed acts of vengeance and misused their authority".

Another relative, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted Hasina's sentence to be "executed before the election".

"Exclusively thereafter the families of those killed [in the protests] will obtain solace in their minds."

Following her removal, an interim government headed by economist Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A national vote is planned for February 2026.

Nonetheless, the Hasina's political party, her political faction, was banned by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

Hasina warned in the previous month that if the her faction's nominees were banned from standing in the upcoming election, numerous would avoid the vote.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government has asked her extradition but so far India has expressed no readiness to acquiesce.

Her officially designated attorney her legal counsel said he was "disappointed and hoping the outcome had varied".

"I am unable to challenge because my clients are absent; that's why I am disappointed," he added.

Recently, the defense attorneys said they had lodged a prompt application to the UN pointing out significant due process and judicial process problems at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial together with her ex-interior minister and security forces head.

Even though the verdict grants partial finality to relatives of the deceased in the protests, it may do little to soothe the state's ideological splits.

"The anger against the former leader and the Awami League has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka told news organizations. "Both she and the organization has apologised or displayed repentance for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "This complicates matters for the organization to receive endorsement by a bulk of the population in this state."

The advocate continued that the sentence was not resolution for the families of those who died and were wounded.

"We assist numerous persons who underwent irreversible limb loss, they are amputees now, due to the crackdown. They cannot pardon her."

An analyst, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it increasingly challenging" for her party to become a regular participant of Bangladeshi politics again.

This might transform if "there is some kind of apology and a distancing from the former leader and the old leadership," he expressed.