Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, aunt of Tulip Siddiq, sentenced to death for crimes against humanity
The aunt of Tulip Siddiq has been handed the death penalty in Bangladesh over crimes against humanity.
Listen to this article
Sheikh Hasina, 78, Bangladesh’s prime minister at the time of mass student protests where around 1,400 died in August last year, was found to have directed the army to use drones and helicopters to kill demonstrators.
Hasina fled to India and has refused to return to Bangladesh to face trial. People sentenced to death in Bangladesh are most commonly hanged.
After the verdict she said: “The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate.
“They are biased and politically motivated. In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove Bangladesh’s last elected prime minister.”
Justice Mohammad Ghulam Murtaza Majumdar, of Bangladesh’s international crimes tribunal, said: “It is clear enough that the attack in question was directed against civilian population, and it was widespread and systematic.
“Therefore, in the atrocities of killing and gravely injuring the protesters as aforesaid, accused prime minister Sheikh Hasina committed crimes against humanity by her incitement, direct order and also failure to take preventive measures.
“It’s crystal clear she incited the violence against students, who were attacked with deadly weapons,” Mr Majumdar said.
Hasina is the aunt of Tulip Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate who served as economic secretary to the Treasury until her resignation in January.
The tribunal heard of a transcript of phone conversations in which Hasina directed officials to use lethal weapons, drones and helicopters to kill and bomb student protesters.
She was forced to flee by helicopter during the protests, when students stormed her residence in Dhaka.
On the same day at least 52 people were killed in a neighbourhood of Dhaka.
Former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun was arrested and pleaded guilty in July.
He said Hasina ordered the killing of protesters using helicopters, drones and lethal weapons, which he carried out by commanding security forces, according to prosecutors.