Verdict in Sheikh Hasina Crimes Against Humanity Case Set for November 13

A Bangladeshi court will deliver its verdict on November 13 in the crimes against humanity case against ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman announced on Thursday as the high-profile trial concluded in Dhaka.

The 78-year-old leader, who has refused to return from India to face trial, is accused of ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising in mid-2024 that left more than 1,400 people dead, according to United Nations estimates. Prosecutors have demanded the death penalty if Hasina is found guilty.

“If she believed in the justice system, she should have returned,” Asaduzzaman said during his closing remarks after nearly five months of proceedings. “She was the prime minister but fled, leaving behind the entire nation — her fleeing corroborates the allegations.”

The trial, which began on June 1, heard extensive testimony alleging that Hasina directly instructed security forces to use lethal force to suppress demonstrations that swept the country between July and August 2024. Prosecutors presented audio recordings — verified by police — said to capture Hasina ordering troops to “use lethal weapons” against protesters.

Chief prosecutor Tajul Islam described Hasina as “the nucleus around whom all the crimes were committed” during the uprising.

The charges against her include five counts, among them failure to prevent murder — which, under Bangladeshi law, constitute crimes against humanity.

Hasina has been tried in absentia and represented by a state-appointed lawyer after she refused to acknowledge the court’s authority. Her defense lawyer, Md Amir Hossain, argued that she was “forced to flee” the country and that she “preferred death and a burial within her residence compound.”

Her now-banned Awami League party maintains that Hasina “categorically denies” all allegations, calling the trial “a politically motivated show process.”

Two other figures are co-accused in the case — former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who remains at large, and ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who is in custody and has pleaded guilty.

Witnesses recounted harrowing accounts of the violence, including one man whose face was disfigured by gunfire. Prosecutors say the crackdown was aimed at silencing dissent after mass protests erupted across universities and major cities.

Attorney General Asaduzzaman insisted the trial had been fair and transparent. “We want justice for both sides in this crimes against humanity case that claimed 1,400 lives,” he said, listing several victims, including children.

The court’s verdict will come just three months before Bangladesh’s next general elections, scheduled for early February 2026 — the first since Hasina’s overthrow last year.