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The country's previous leader has been handed capital punishment for human rights violations due to her harsh response on student-led protests which caused her ousting.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, among whom around 1,400 people were killed during the turmoil last year.

Hasina was tried without her presence by the special international tribunal in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India since she was forced from power in July 2024.

The prosecution alleged of being behind numerous deaths during the protests. The former leader rejected the entire case, describing the process as "unfair and agenda-driven".

The verdict marks a decisive point for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over long-standing suppression. Families of those killed and injured had called for severe punishments.

Answering the judgment in a detailed document, she expressed the death penalty was the temporary leadership's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a political force and that she was content of her leadership's history on civil liberties.

"I do not fear to confront those accusing me in a fair court where the facts can be assessed and examined justly."

The nation's capital, Dhaka, where the legal proceedings occurred, was under enhanced protection before the verdict on Monday, with many of Hasina's critics holding a protest and applauding as the sentence was declared.

The capital witnessed a recent spike in turmoil, with dozens of bombs exploded and coaches ignited in the time before the verdict.

At least one bomb explosion was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with zero injuries documented, area law enforcement officer Jisanul Haque informed news organizations.

The protest movement led by students last year started with calls to eliminate government job quotas but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.

UN human rights investigators stated in a document in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could represent "human rights atrocities".

The study recorded the gunfire from minimal distance of certain demonstrators, the intentional injuring of others, unjustified apprehensions and mistreatment.

Unauthorized recordings of one of Hasina's phone calls confirmed by investigative sources during the current year implied she had authorized the use of "fatal instruments" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the proceedings.

Ahead of the verdict, relatives of those killed during the protests informed news agencies they wanted Hasina to be punished severely.

A family representative, whose sibling was killed in July 2024, said he wanted "severe penalty" for the former leader and associates who have "engaged in retaliatory actions and exploited their positions".

Another relative, whose husband was killed near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted her penalty to be "executed before the election".

"Only then the kin of victims [in the protests] will find peace in their hearts."

Since Hasina's ousting, an caretaker administration under the guidance of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed power. A national vote is set for February 2026.

However, the Awami League, Hasina's political party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's caretaker administration in May.

She alerted during the past month that if the her faction's nominees were banned from standing in the imminent electoral process, numerous would avoid the vote.

This decision presents a foreign relations issue for the neighboring countries. The Bangladesh government has asked her extradition but to date India has demonstrated no inclination to acquiesce.

The legal representative assigned to her Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "disappointed and hoping the outcome had varied".

"I cannot even contest because my represented individuals are away; for that reason I am sad," he added.

The previous week, Hasina's lawyers said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN raising serious fair trial and judicial process problems at the ICT.

Legal proceedings involved Hasina together with her former home minister and police chief.

While the sentence offers some closure to families of killed in the protests, it may not significantly ease the nation's partisan rifts.

"The anger against the former leader and the Awami League has not subsided," a human rights advocate from the capital stated to news organizations. "The leader and her faction has apologised or displayed repentance for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "It makes it difficult for the party to be accepted by a most citizens in this nation."

The activist added that the punishment was not finality for the kin of those killed and injured.

"We work with multiple individuals who lost their limbs forever, they are amputees now, as a result of the harsh measures. They will never be able to forgive her."

A journalist, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it particularly hard" for her party to become a normal feature of the nation's political landscape again.

This could alter if "a form of contrition emerges and a distancing from the former leader and the previous administration," he expressed.