Bangladesh hands death sentences to 7 aides of ousted Prime Minister Hasina 

Seven aides of ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been sentenced to death in absentia on charges relating to their roles in trying to crush the country’s 2024 uprising.

The seven men, members of ousted leader Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League, were convicted of crimes against humanity, including murder, as well as instigating and provoking killings.

A three-member tribunal in Dhaka, headed by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, issued the sentences on Tuesday.

Those convicted include former state minister for information and broadcasting, Mohammad Ali Arafat, and Hasina’s Awami League party General-Secretary Obaidul Quader, who were charged with murder as well as instigating killings.

Sixty-eight people have been convicted in cases related to the crackdown, and 22 have been given death sentences. Only four are currently in custody.

Hasina, 78, was sentenced to death by hanging last November for charges of crimes against humanity for her role in the crackdown on the 2024 uprising that led to her fleeing the country she had ruled for 15 years.

State-appointed defence lawyer M Hasan Imam said the seven men were not directly involved in the killings and that the court could have handed down a lesser sentence than death.

“They were not directly involved in the killings; they have been convicted due to their fellow activists and supporters,” he said.

The other five men are AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash, Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, Saddam Hussain and Sheikh Wali Asif Enan.

The tribunal also ordered the confiscation of half the assets belonging to the five men, saying that they will be distributed as compensation to the families of those who died or were injured during the crackdown.

During the uprising, up to 1,400 people were killed, and thousands were injured by Hasina’s security forces and her supporters, according to the United Nations.

Since fleeing the country, Hasina has been living in exile in India, but she said she will return to Bangladesh by the end of the year, in December.