Bangladesh sentences ex-PM Sheikh Hasina to death for 2024 crackdown, as Veena Sikri warns of Pakistan–Jamaat attempts to rewrite liberation history and influence the nation’s political narrative.
A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity, in a landmark judgment that has plunged the country deeper into political turmoil ahead of the 2026 elections. The highly anticipated verdict, delivered by judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder and broadcast live, declared that “all the elements constituting crimes against humanity have been fulfilled.”
Hasina, 78, was convicted in absentia on three counts — incitement, ordering killings, and failing to prevent atrocities — linked to the deadly crackdown on student-led protests in 2024 that ultimately overthrew her government. Former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was also sentenced to death, while ex-police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun received five years in prison after pleading guilty.
Crowds waved flags and celebrated across Dhaka, even as Hasina — currently in hiding in India — denounced the verdict as “biased and politically motivated.”
In the wake of the verdict, in an exclusive interview with Asianet Newsable English’s Heena Sharma, Former Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri warned that the current situation in Bangladesh poses a serious threat to India’s national security, accusing Pakistan-backed Islamist forces of driving the political upheaval and weaponising institutions to sideline democratic leadership, including Sheikh Hasina.
ICT Has No Authority to Try Sheikh Hasina
Sikri categorically called the death sentence awarded by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) constitutionally invalid, arguing the tribunal’s mandate is legally limited to trials related to 1971 war crimes.
“The Bangladesh International Criminal Tribunal has no authority at all to try Sheikh Haseena.”
She explained that since ICT was created by a 1973 Act of Parliament, its powers cannot be expanded without parliamentary approval, which the interim “UNIS regime” does not have.
She also accused the regime of politically restructuring the judiciary:
“You may describe it as weaponising the judiciary… it was really a very unwarranted, uncalled for and unconstitutional methodology of changing the judges. Even the ICT judges and so on were changed.”
“To give you one example, there was this lawyer, Mohammed Tajul Islam, who was the person when the ICT was functioning and the war criminals of 1971 were being tried. Most of them, as you know, were Jamaat-e-Islami members. Then this lawyer, Mohammed Tajul Islam, was the principal defendant for the Jamaat-e-Islam and he was defending them in the court of law. Now, the same lawyer has been made the chief prosecutor in the ICT. So, you know, it just shows that this is how political the whole system has been rigged and that is why Sheikh Haseena made that statement yesterday,” Sikri added.
Sheikh Hasina Case in International Criminal Court
According to Sikri, Sheikh Hasina has called for a fair international trial, and the ex-PM has mentioned the ICC, International Criminal Court at The Hague.
Sikri added multiple legal filings accuse the interim Bangladesh regime of targeted violence against minorities, media and Awami League supporters—evidence she says the ICT in Dhaka is ignoring.
“Doughty Street Chambers, has actually filed what they call a notice to the prosecution of the ICC Hague talking about what is being inflicted on the Awami League and how they are being maligned and unfairly treated. And what has happened to the Awami League members? Close to 400 of them have been killed. And all these problems that actually the ICT is not looking at,” she told Asianet Newsable English.
Extradition Demand “Not Even Valid Yet”
With Bangladesh pushing for Sheikh Hasina’s extradition following the ICT’s controversial death sentence verdict, Sikri stressed that no proper request has even been submitted yet.
She highlighted that Bangladesh’s December communication to India was not legally valid.
“Even at that time, I said this is not an extradition request, because when there is an extradition request, it has to be accompanied by all the court case… She was not convicted, right?”
She added that India cannot act until Bangladesh files all court documents, judgments and evidence:
“They have to complete the extradition request… All this has to be sent, actually, by the Bangladesh government formally to the Indian government.”
According to her, such cases often take years due to parallel court hearings in the country receiving the request.
Not a Student Movement but a “Meticulously Designed Operation”
Responding to narratives that anti-Hasina protests were spontaneous youth movements, Sikri rejected the idea:
“It was a meticulously designed operation. It was not spontaneous.”
She asserted that Pakistan coordinated the political shift through its decades-old partnership with Jamaat-e-Islami:
“Pakistan was working with the Jamaat-e-Islami. Pakistan’s objective is to bring the Jamaat-e-Islami to power. They have been working with Jamaat-e-Islami during the Liberation War, before the Liberation War and after the Liberation War. So, there has always been that conduit. They seem to have promised Jamaat-e-Islami that they’re going to come to power.”
The radical shift, she said, is aimed at creating conditions similar to pre-1971 East Pakistan.
Islamist Influence Expanding Across Institutions
Sikri warned that the Jamaat-e-Islami and Hizb ut-Tahrir influence is spreading into civilian, educational and military structures.
She cited the example of Bangladesh walking back a cultural-education policy—under pressure from Islamist groups:
“Instead of these kind of teachers, they’re going to have religious teachers.”
However, student backlash to this announcement revealed that many Bangladeshis still back secular values:
“This just shows that the students are certainly not with the Jamaat-e-Islami or with Muhammad Yunus.”
Bangladesh Becoming a Serious Security Concern for India
Describing the present political alignment in Dhaka as openly anti-India, Sikri listed growing strategic and military threats.
“I think definitely in one line, it is an important security threat for India.”
She recalled that during the BNP–Jamaat government era, Bangladeshi soil was used to shelter and train Northeast insurgent groups until Sheikh Hasina stopped it after 2009:
“She stopped all support for the insurgent groups… For 15 years, Northeast India could focus on development and growth.”
But now, Sikri said the new interim regime has reversed this stance—attempting to rebuild security and military links with Pakistan and China.
She pointed out that senior Pakistani officers are being posted in Bangladesh, and major infrastructure projects near India’s frontier are being enhanced:
“They want to modernise it… very close to Meghalaya and Assam… these are great security concerns to India.”
India is expected to raise these matters directly during the upcoming visit of the Bangladesh National Security Advisor.
India’s Response: Calm but Alert
Sikri praised New Delhi’s restrained approach, saying India was right in choosing diplomacy and not reacting emotionally.
With the legality of the sentence under dispute, and the extradition request incomplete, New Delhi is expected to rely on formal documentation before responding officially.
Until then, Sikri warns the political drift in Dhaka—and the strategic footprint of Pakistan-backed radical groups—will remain a major challenge for India’s national security and regional stability.