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The country's previous leader has been given a death sentence for atrocities stemming from her crackdown on student-led protests which resulted in her removal from power.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of permitting fatal actions to be used against protesters, among whom around 1,400 people lost their lives during the disturbances during 2024.

Hasina was tried in absentia by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh, as she resides in exile in India after being removed from office in July 2024.

Prosecutors accused her of being behind hundreds of killings during the protests. Hasina has denied every accusation, labeling the proceedings as "prejudiced and driven by politics".

This judgment represents a pivotal moment for Bangladesh, as the protests unleashed anger over extended periods of oppression. Relatives of the deceased and harmed had requested severe punishments.

Answering the judgment in a detailed document, she expressed the execution sentence was the interim government's way of "eradicating the Awami League" as a governing body and that she was satisfied of her leadership's history on civil liberties.

"I am not afraid to meet my challengers in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and reviewed impartially."

The capital, Dhaka, where the court convened, was under tightened security prior to the ruling on Monday, with several of her detractors organizing a demonstration and celebrating as the judgment was announced.

The city has seen a recent spike in turmoil, with numerous incendiary devices set off and public transport vehicles burned in the period preceding the verdict.

One explosive incident was reported in Dhaka on Monday morning, with no victims identified, area law enforcement officer Jisanul Haque stated to media outlets.

The youth-driven revolt during 2024 started with requests to remove state employment quotas but morphed into a more extensive dissent initiative.

UN human rights investigators said in a report in February that the nearly 1,400 casualties could amount to "violations of human dignity".

The report documented the shooting at point-blank range of a number of activists, the intentional injuring of further participants, arbitrary arrests and mistreatment.

Disclosed sound files of one of Hasina's phone calls verified by investigative sources during the current year indicated she had authorized the use of "lethal weapons" in July 2024. The sound file was broadcast in court during the legal process.

Ahead of the verdict, kin of those fatally injured in the unrest informed media representatives 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 misused their authority".

Lucky Akther, whose partner was fatally injured near Dhaka in August 2024, said she wanted the former leader's punishment to be "carried out before the election".

"Solely at that point the kin of victims [in the protests] will achieve closure in their hearts."

Following her removal, an temporary leadership led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has assumed control. A general election is set for February 2026.

However, the Awami League, the former ruling party, was prohibited by Bangladesh's interim government in May.

The former leader cautioned in the previous month that if the party's candidates were banned from standing in the forthcoming vote, countless would abstain the ballot.

The judgment creates a foreign relations issue for the neighboring countries. Dhaka has formally requested her repatriation but to date India has expressed no readiness to acquiesce.

Hasina's state-appointed lawyer Mohammad Amir Hossain said he was "unhappy and desiring the verdict had been different".

"I cannot even contest because my represented individuals are away; that's why I am disappointed," he added.

Recently, the defense attorneys said they had submitted an immediate petition to the UN highlighting serious fair trial and judicial process problems at the ICT.

The former leader faced trial alongside her ex-interior minister and security forces head.

Even though the verdict offers some closure to kin of victims in the protests, it may not significantly ease the nation's partisan rifts.

"The anger against Hasina and the her political party has not subsided," a civil liberties campaigner in Dhaka informed media outlets. "The leader and her faction has apologised or demonstrated contrition for the killings of hundreds of people."

She said "This complicates matters for the party to be accepted by a bulk of the population in this state."

The campaigner further stated that the punishment was not resolution for the families of those fatally and non-fatally harmed.

"We work with several people who lost their limbs forever, they are currently without limbs, because of the suppression. They will never be able to forgive her."

An analyst, a commentator on the nation's politics, said the "inherent character of the guilty verdict could make it even more difficult" for the political faction to become a regular participant of Bangladeshi politics again.

This could alter if "there is some kind of apology and a distancing from Hasina and the former hierarchy," he said.