Dhaka: Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Monday alleged that the verdict announced against her came from a “rigged tribunal” set up and presided over by the unelected interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, which lacks a democratic mandate, calling the ruling “biased” and “politically motivated”.
The remarks came after Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) pronounced a death sentence for the former Prime Minister after it found her guilty on the charges of crimes against humanity related to the demonstrations in July of last year.
“In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove Bangladesh’s last elected prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League as a political force. Millions of Bangladeshis toiling under the chaotic, violent and socially regressive administration of Dr Mohammad Yunus will not be fooled by this attempt to short-change them of their democratic rights. They can see that the trials conducted by the so-called International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) were never intended to achieve justice or provide any genuine insight into the events of July and August 2025. Rather, their purpose was to scapegoat the Awami League and to distract the world’s attention from the failings of Dr Yunus and his ministers,” read a statement issued by former PM Hasina after the controversial ICT verdict.
Slamming the Yunus-led interim government, she further said, “Under his aegis, public services have fallen apart. Police have retreated from the country’s crime-ridden streets, and judicial fairness has been subverted, with attacks on Awami League adherents going unpunished. Hindus and other religious minorities are assaulted, and women’s rights are suppressed. Islamic extremists inside the administration, including figures from Hizb-ut-Tahrir, seek to undermine Bangladesh’s long tradition of secular government. Journalists are locked up and menaced, economic growth has stalled, and Yunus has delayed elections and then banned the country’s most longstanding party (the Awami League) from participating in those elections.
The former PM denied the accusations that have been made against her in the ICT. “I mourn all of the deaths that occurred in July and August of last year, on both sides of the political divide. But neither I nor other political leaders ordered the killing of protestors,” she stressed.
Hasina stated that she has no fear of facing her accusers before a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly, adding that this is why she has repeatedly challenged the interim government to bring these charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
“The interim government will not accept this challenge, because it knows that the ICC would acquit me. The interim government also fears that the ICC would scrutinise its own record of human rights breaches in office,” she asserted.
