Bangladesh tribunal hands death sentences to seven Hasina aides over 2024 crackdown

A tribunal in Dhaka has sentenced seven aides of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death in absentia over their roles in the crackdown on Bangladesh's 2024 uprising. The three-member court found them guilty of crimes against humanity, including murder and instigating killings. The ruling adds to a widening series of convictions linked to the violence that followed the uprising.

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The tribunal was headed by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury and delivered the sentences on Tuesday. Among those convicted were former state minister for information and broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat and Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader. The other five men named in the case were AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash, Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, Saddam Hussain and Sheikh Wali Asif Enan.

A state-appointed defence lawyer said the men were not directly involved in the killings and argued that the court could have imposed a lesser sentence. The court also ordered the confiscation of half the assets belonging to the five men, saying the money would be distributed as compensation to families of those killed or injured during the crackdown. According to the row, 68 people have now been convicted in related cases and 22 have received death sentences.

Only four of those convicted are currently in custody, underlining the scale of the in-absentia proceedings and the difficulty of enforcing the rulings. The case is significant because it extends legal accountability for the 2024 uprising, which the United Nations said left up to 1,400 people dead and thousands injured by security forces and supporters of Hasina. Hasina herself was sentenced to death by hanging last November over crimes against humanity linked to the same crackdown.

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She fled Bangladesh after ruling the country for 15 years and is now living in exile in India, according to the supplied material. The latest verdicts also deepen the political and legal fallout from the collapse of Hasina's rule. The Awami League remains central to the case, with several senior figures now facing the most severe penalties available under the tribunal process.

The asset confiscation order suggests the court is also seeking to provide some form of restitution to victims' families, not only punishment for those convicted. What remains unclear is how the sentences will be enforced, given that most of the convicted men are not in custody. It is also not clear whether further appeals or additional cases will follow, or how the rulings will affect Bangladesh's wider political climate.

Hasina has said she will return to Bangladesh by the end of the year, but the tribunal's latest decision shows the legal consequences of the uprising are still unfolding.

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