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Bangladesh's former prime minister has been handed capital punishment for atrocities due to her crackdown on youth demonstrations which caused her removal from power.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, among whom around 1,400 people lost their lives during the disturbances last year.

The trial proceeded without her presence by the International Crimes Court in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being the mastermind of multiple fatalities during the protests. The former leader rejected the entire case, calling the trial as "unfair and agenda-driven".

This judgment represents a critical juncture for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over long-standing suppression. Families of those killed and harmed had demanded severe punishments.

Reacting to the verdict in a five-page statement, she expressed the execution sentence was the temporary leadership's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a electoral entity and that she was proud of her leadership's history on individual freedoms.

"I have no trepidation to confront those accusing me in a just legal forum where the facts can be assessed and examined justly."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under tightened security ahead of the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics staging a rally and cheering as the verdict was read.

The capital witnessed a recent spike in unrest, with numerous incendiary devices set off and coaches ignited in the time before the verdict.

One explosive incident was recorded in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no casualties reported, local police official the authorities' representative stated to news organizations.

The student-led uprising last year began with 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 nearly 1,400 casualties could constitute "human rights atrocities".

The study recorded the gunfire from minimal distance of some protesters, the purposeful disabling of further participants, arbitrary arrests and torture.

Leaked audio of a telephone conversation involving Hasina verified by investigative sources during the current year implied she had sanctioned the use of "deadly arms" in July 2024. The recording was presented in court during the legal process.

Prior to the ruling, kin of those who died in the demonstrations told news agencies they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

One relative, whose family member was fatally wounded in July 2024, said he wanted "strict sentence" for the former leader and associates who have "performed revengeful deeds and abused their power".

A different family member, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "carried out before the election".

"Solely at that point the kin of victims [in the protests] will achieve closure in their souls."

Following her removal, an interim government led by economist Muhammad Yunus has taken charge. A general election is planned for February 2026.

However, the her former political organization, the former ruling party, was banned by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were prohibited from running in the forthcoming vote, millions would boycott the ballot.

This decision presents a foreign relations issue for India and Bangladesh. Authorities have sought her extradition but until now India has demonstrated no inclination to agree.

Her officially designated attorney the defense lawyer said he was "sad [and wishes] the outcome had varied".

"I cannot even contest because my defendants are not present; which is why I am sad," he added.

The previous week, the defense attorneys said they had filed an urgent appeal to the UN pointing out serious fair trial and judicial process problems at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial in conjunction with her former home minister and top law enforcement officer.

While the sentence grants partial finality to families of killed in the protests, it may do little to soothe the country's political divisions.

"The resentment towards Hasina and the her political party has not decreased," a human rights advocate from the capital told news organizations. "The leader and her faction has apologised or shown any remorse for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "This creates challenges for the party to be accepted by a most citizens in this state."

The advocate continued that the sentence was not finality for the kin of those killed and injured.

"We work with several people who suffered permanent amputations, they are amputees now, due to the crackdown. They are incapable of excusing her."

David Bergman, a journalist and a long-time Bangladesh watcher, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it even more difficult" for the political faction to become a normal feature of Bangladeshi politics again.

This may change if "there is some kind of apology and a distancing from the former leader and the old leadership," he said.