In a scathing rebuke of Bangladesh’s deepening political crisis, Amnesty International on Tuesday denounced the death sentence against exiled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and ex-Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal as a “neither fair nor just” farce, orchestrated by an unelected interim regime under Muhammad Yunus that prioritises vengeance over accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The human rights watchdog’s statement <\/a>lays bare the long-standing flaws of the International Crimes Tribunal’s (ICT-BD), warning that the rushed, in-absentia conviction\u2014marred by procedural lapses and bias\u2014only perpetuates a cycle of injustice, while the death penalty stands as the “ultimate cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sheikh Hasina slams ICT-BD verdict as biased, politically motivated<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1,001 university teachers condemn sentence of Sheikh Hasina<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Amnesty Secretary General Agn\u00e8s Callamard pulled no punches in her response to Monday’s verdict, which capped a lightning-fast trial amid global outcry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Those individually responsible for the egregious violations and allegations of crimes against humanity that took place during the student-led protests in July and August 2024 must be investigated and prosecuted in fair trials,” Callamard stated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “However, this trial and sentence are neither fair nor just. Victims need justice and accountability, yet the death penalty simply compounds human rights violations.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The condemnation strikes at the heart of the Yunus administration’s legitimacy, which seized power in the chaotic aftermath of Hasina’s August 2024 ouster but lacks a democratic mandate to wield such sweeping judicial power. Critics, including Hasina’s Awami League and international observers, have branded the proceedings a “revenge trial” engineered by Yunus’s coalition of BNP hardliners and Jamaat-e-Islami Islamists\u2014parties with their own bloody histories\u2014to settle scores against Hasina’s 15-year rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Callamard echoed these concerns, spotlighting the ICT’s “lack of independence and history of unfair proceedings”\u2014a body Amnesty has pilloried since its inception for politically influenced verdicts, coerced confessions, and contempt charges against dissenters (as detailed in 2013 and 2014 statements).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The trial’s “unprecedented speed,” conducted without Hasina’s presence despite court summonses she defied from her Indian exile, left her court-appointed lawyer with “manifestly inadequate” preparation time. Reports of barred cross-examinations on contradictory evidence only amplified fair trial red flags, violating international standards under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Justice for survivors and victims demands that fiercely independent and impartial proceedings, which meet international human rights standards, are conducted,” Callamard emphasised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “This was not a fair trial. The victims of July 2024 deserve far better. Bangladesh needs a justice process that is scrupulously fair and fully impartial beyond all suspicion of bias and does not resort to order further human rights violations through the death penalty. Only then can genuine and meaningful truth, justice and reparations be delivered.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a stark contrast, former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun\u2014now a state witness who pleaded guilty\u2014drew just five years in an in-person trial, underscoring the tribunal’s uneven hand. Amnesty’s video verification series from last year exposed the “unlawful use of both lethal and less-lethal force” against protesters, including rubber bullets and live rounds fired into crowds. Yet, under Yunus’ watch, the ICT has been reconstituted with figures tied to opposition factions, fueling claims of a vendetta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Awami League leaders are condemning the verdict and observing a shutdown across the country. They say that the Yunus regime, born of street chaos, not elections, has no moral or legal authority to impose death on political foes while shielding its own radicals. This is revenge, not reckoning\u2014a death knell for Bangladesh’s fragile democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amnesty’s outright opposition to capital punishment “in all cases without exception” underscores the verdict’s moral bankruptcy, regardless of guilt. As Bangladesh hurtles toward uncertain elections\u2014delayed indefinitely by Yunus’s “reform” facade\u2014the statement amplifies calls for International Criminal Court scrutiny, where Hasina has dared prosecutors to bring charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bangabandhu\u2019s daughter, Sheikh Hasina, denounced the court verdict convicting her of \u201ccrimes against humanity\u201d as a \u201cbiased and politically motivated sham\u201d delivered by an \u201cillegal tribunal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate,\u201d Hasina said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey are biased and politically motivated, orchestrated by a court widely criticised as illegitimate and run under the influence of the war criminal Jamaat-e-Islami party, which has long disregarded Bangladesh\u2019s laws and international standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hasina categorically rejected the tribunal\u2019s authority, dismissing all charges as fabricated. \u201cIt\u2019s a guilty verdict against me that was a foregone conclusion from an apparatus designed to convict, not to seek truth,\u201d she added in her detailed five-page statement. She expressed willingness to face a fair trial remotely from abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly,\u201d she declared. \u201cThat is why I have repeatedly challenged the interim government to bring these charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague\u2014a venue they dread, knowing the ICT-BD\u2019s own record of illegality and bias would collapse under scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She further accused the Yunus-led setup of fearing ICC examination of its human rights record, including extrajudicial killings and suppression of dissent. Hasina lambasted Yunus for seizing power \u201cunconstitutionally\u201d with backing from \u201cextremist elements,\u201d including Jamaat, whose history of violence and opposition to Bangladesh\u2019s secular ethos casts a dark shadow over the tribunal\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ICT-BD: Sheikh Hasina snubs false charges in illegal court<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Complete Shutdown: Sheikh Hasina urges all to make it successful<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n