Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina sentenced to six months

DHAKA: Bangladesh on Wednesday convicted fugitive ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina of contempt of court and issued a six-month prison sentence in absentia, the first verdict since she was ousted last year.

Hasina, 77, fled to neighbouring India at the culmination of the student-led uprising in August 2024, and has defied orders to return to Dhaka.

“She will serve the sentence the day she arrives in Bangladesh or surrenders to the court,” chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told reporters after the court decision.

The case centred around comments that prosecutors said she had made after she was ousted from power, which they said threatened witnesses in ongoing court hearings.

“The prosecution team believes her comment created an aura of fear among those who filed the cases and among the witnesses,” Islam said.

Shakil Akanda Bulbul, a fugitive leader of her now-banned Awami League, was sentenced to two months in prison in the same case.

Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August last year, according to the United Nations, when Hasina’s government ordered a crackdown on protesters in a failed bid to cling to power.

In a separate ongoing trial that began on June 1, prosecutors say that Hasina held overall command responsibility for the violence.

Her state-appointed defence lawyer said she has denied the multiple charges that amount to crimes against humanity under Bangladeshi law.