Dhaka
\nProsecutors in Bangladesh have demanded that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina be put to death over a deadly crackdown on student-led protests last year that ousted her from power.
\nHasina, who has fled to India, is on trial for crimes against humanity. According to a leaked audio clip, she ordered security forces to \u201cuse lethal weapons\u201d against protesters. She denies the charges.
\nUp to 1,400 people were killed in weeks of unrest that ended Hasina\u2019s 15-year rule. It was the worst violence Bangladesh had seen since its 1971 war of independence.
\nChief prosecutor Tajul Islam said Hasina deserves 1,400 death sentences. \u201cSince that is not humanly possible, we demand at least one,\u201d he said.
\n\u201c[Hasina\u2019s] goal was to cling to power permanently, for herself and her family,\u201d Islam told the court on Thursday.
\n\u201cShe has turned into a hardened criminal and shows no remorse for the brutality she has committed,\u201d he said.
\nThe protests started in July 2024 against civil service job quotas for relatives of those who fought in the 1971 war but soon escalated into a mass movement to overthrow Hasina.
\nSome of the bloodiest scenes occurred on 5 August, the day Hasina fled by helicopter before crowds stormed her residence in Dhaka, a BBC investigation found.
\nPolice killed at least 52 people that day in a busy Dhaka neighbourhood, making it one of the worst cases of police violence in Bangladesh\u2019s history.
\nHasina\u2019s state-appointed defence lawyer argues that the police were forced to open fire in response to violent actions from the protesters.
\nHasina is being tried alongside her ex-interior minister, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.
\nProsecutors have sought the death penalty for Kamal, who is also in hiding. Chowdhury pleaded guilty in July but has not been handed a sentence.
\nHasina has already been sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court, and separately faces corruption charges.
\nBangladesh is due hold its next elections in February, which will see Hasina\u2019s rival party BNP as frontrunner in the vote. Her party Awami League has been banned from all activities, including participating in elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dhaka Prosecutors in Bangladesh have demanded that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina be put to death over a deadly crackdown on student-led protests last year that ousted her from power. Hasina, who has fled to India, is on trial for crimes against humanity. According to a leaked audio clip, she ordered security forces to \u201cuse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-509283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n