Bangladesh prosecution demands death penalty for ex-PM Hasina
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Former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India in 2024, defying court orders to return and face charges.
PHOTO: AFP
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DHAKA - Bangladeshi prosecution lawyers demanded on Oct 16 that fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina receive the death penalty in her trial for crimes against humanity.
Ms Hasina has defied court orders to return from India
Up to 1,400 people were killed in the clashes between July and August 2024, according to the United Nations.
“We demand the highest punishment for her,” chief prosecutor Tajul Islam told reporters outside court.
“For a single murder, one death penalty is the rule. For 1,400 murders, she should be sentenced 1,400 times – but since that is not humanly possible, we demand at least one.”
The prosecution alleges that Ms Hasina, 78, was “the nucleus around whom all the crimes committed during the July to August uprising revolved”.
She is being tried in absentia alongside two former senior officials.
Her interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal is also a fugitive, while former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun is in custody and has pleaded guilty.
The prosecution said on Oct 16 that Mr Kamal should also face the death penalty.
The trial, which opened on June 1, has heard months of testimony alleging Ms Hasina’s role in ordering or failing to prevent mass killings.
“Her goal was to cling to power permanently – for herself and her family,” Mr Islam said. AFP
