Dhaka: Deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to six months in prison in a contempt of court case.
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) pronounced the verdict, which was issued on Wednesday by a three-member bench of ICT-1 headed by Chairman Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, The Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.
Hasina, who fled Bangladesh and was given refuge in India following a students-led uprising last August, has faced multiple charges and cases back home. But this is the first time that the Awami League leader has been sentenced in any case.
Hasina has defied orders to return from India to Dhaka, where her trial in absentia opened on June 1. Whether the Indian government can be forced to ensure that she goes back to Bangladesh remains to be seen.
On July 1, Hasina denied accusations of committing crimes against humanity as per Bangladesh law, after prosecutors filed charges against her related to abetment, incitement, complicity, facilitation, and conspiracy and failure to prevent mass murder.
Awami League, which was banned in Bangladesh in May, issued a statement in London, calling the sentencing of Hasina a “show trial” and said that the accused “categorically denies the charges.”
According to the United Nations, around 1,400 people were killed in July-August last year, when Hasina’s government ordered a crackdown on protesters.
