Bangladesh | Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Gets Death Penalty for 'crimes against humanity'

Sheikh Hasina, 78, was sentenced to death for 'crimes against humanity' committed during last year's anti-government agitation that led to the fall of her Awami League government.

As Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal announced a death penalty for former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the courtroom erupted into loud applause. Many people were seen clapping, smiling, and cheering inside the court, while some made a praying gesture.

A few people were also seen crying.

The applause lasted for a few seconds before the judges requested those present inside to maintain court decorum.

Hasina, 78, was sentenced to death for 'crimes against humanity' committed during last year's anti-government agitation that led to the fall of her Awami League government. The court found Hasina guilty on three counts - incitement, order to kill, and inaction to prevent the atrocities.

"We have decided to inflict her with only one sentence - that is, the sentence of death," Judge Golam Mortuza Mozumder said.

The three-member tribunal, headed by Mozumder, also pronounced the judgment against the 78-year-old leader's aides - ex-home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun - over the same charges.

Hasina and Kamal have been declared fugitives and tried in absentia, while Mamun initially faced trial in person before turning approver.

Under the ICT-BD law, Hasina cannot appeal the verdict unless she returns or is arrested within 30 days.

According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina tried to cling to power.

The former Bangladesh PM fled to India on a self-imposed exile on August 5, 2024, as tens of thousands of violent protesters marched towards her residence in Dhaka and ousted her, ending her 15-year-long tenure. She has since then lived in a secret safe house in Delhi. She had defied the tribunal's orders to face trial for ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising.

Hasina was tried in absentia and has been living in exile in India since being forced from power. The verdict will put India under pressure to extradite Hasina, but it is unlikely to do so.

Hasina's First reaction

Ex-Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responded fiercely after being sentenced to death, in absentia, by that country's International Crimes Tribunal for "crimes against humanity". The verdict revealed "the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures in an unelected government", she said.

Hasina also denied all charges and criticised the court for not giving her Awami League Party and herself a "fair chance to defend themselves". She also accused the tribunal and its members of bias, pointing out its judges and lawyers had "publicly expressed sympathy for the current administration".

"For the record, I wholly deny the accusations that have been made against me in the ICT. I mourn all of the deaths that occurred in July and August of last year, on both sides of the political divide. But neither I nor other political leaders ordered the killing of protesters," Sheikh Hasina said.

"... I was given no fair chance to defend myself in court, nor even to have lawyers of my own choice represent me in absentia. Despite its name, there is nothing 'international' about the ICT... Nor is it impartial," she said in a statement issued minutes after the verdict, tearing into "rigged" proceedings.

Background

Sheikh Hasina served as Bangladesh's prime minister from 1996–2001 and 2009–2024, driving economic growth, infrastructure, and women's empowerment, but faced accusations of authoritarianism, including election rigging, media curbs, and human rights violations.

In August 2024, student protests over job quotas sparked a nationwide uprising, forcing her flight to exile in India.

On November 17, 2025, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal sentenced the 78-year-old Hasina to death in absentia for crimes against humanity in the 2024 protest crackdown, which killed at least 1,400—mostly via security forces' mass shootings and disappearances from July 15–August 15.

The post-ouster trial, with over 100 witnesses, also condemned former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death. Supporters decry it as political revenge; the interim government hails it as justice. The ruling has spiked tensions, boosting security amid unrest fears.

Source: ndtv, Staff, November 17, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

Alabama | Gov. Ivey commutes Charles “Sonny” Burton’s death sentence

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Gov. Kay Ivey has commuted the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton, who was set to be executed Thursday. The governor’s office released the following statement: “Governor Kay Ivey on Tuesday announced that she has commuted the death sentence of Charles L. Burton to life in prison with no chance of parole. Mr. Burton was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1991 capital murder of Doug Battle in Talladega, Alabama. As required by law, the governor first reached out to a representative of Mr. Battle’s family. She also notified the attorney general. Governor Ivey’s letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm is attached.

Texas executes Cedric Ricks

A Texas man was put to death Wednesday evening for fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in 2013, apologizing profusely to her older son who survived with multiple stab wounds and witnessed the execution. Cedric Ricks, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT following a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Bedford. Sanchez’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was stabbed 25 times and feigned death in order to survive.

Missouri Man Said DNA Test Could Prove Innocence. He Was Executed Before a Court Ruled.

Lance Shockley died by lethal injection last year. State courts have rejected prisoners’ requests for DNA testing in recent years. Lance Shockley, a man on death row in Missouri, wanted items from the crime scene to undergo DNA testing to potentially prove his innocence. The court scheduled proceedings on his request — but the date set was for two days after his execution. Patty Prewitt can’t have her DNA tested — and fully clear her name — because her sentence was commuted and she is no longer in prison. And others, including Lamar McVay, who is serving 30 years for a robbery, can’t even get an answer from the state on his DNA testing request. He's still awaiting a ruling on a motion he filed in September 2022.

Maldives | Death penalty law for drug trafficking now in effect

MALÉ, Maldives (DPN) — The Maldives has officially brought into force an amendment to its Narcotics Act that introduces the death penalty for large-scale drug trafficking, marking a significant and controversial shift in the island nation’s criminal justice policy. The amended law, which took effect Saturday, March 7, 2026, allows for capital punishment in cases involving the smuggling and importation of specific quantities of illicit substances. The move fulfills a key pledge by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration to crack down on the country’s growing narcotics crisis and protect what he has termed the nation’s “100 percent Islamic society.” Thresholds for Capital Punishment Under the new provisions, the death penalty is not a mandatory sentence but an available option for the judiciary when specific criteria are met. The law establishes clear weight thresholds for substances brought into the country: Cannabis: More than 350 grams. Diamorphine (Heroin): More than 250 grams....

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ...

Alabama | Death row inmate granted clemency shares emotional message on day he was set to die

Alabama governor commuted death sentence of Charles Burton, 75, who didn't kill anyone An Alabama man who was outside a building when a man was killed in an armed robbery is looking at life as "a gift from God" after being granted clemency by the state’s governor just days before he was scheduled to be executed. Charles "Sonny" Burton, 75, was sentenced to death for his role in the robbery of a Talladega AutoZone store that left a man dead in 1991. While Burton left the store before Derrick DeBruce gunned down customer Doug Battle, he was tried and convicted as an accomplice, with prosecutors insisting Burton acted as the group’s leader in the armed robbery.

U.S. | These States Don’t Want You to See the Cruelty of Their Executions

The use of the death penalty has risen sharply in the United States, with more executions in 2025 than any year since 2009. It is a cruel and unjust development. In theory, the death penalty is reserved for “the worst of the worst.” In practice, it is very different. People who are executed for their crimes are disproportionately poor or intellectually disabled and often lacked good lawyers. They are also more likely to be sentenced to death if they have been convicted of killing a white person. Anthony Boyd, who maintained his innocence until Alabama executed him last year at age 54, had an inexperienced court-appointed lawyer and was convicted on disputed eyewitness testimony. Charles Flores, 56, has spent 27 years on death row in Texas for a murder conviction based solely on unreliable testimony from a hypnotized witness. Robert Roberson, who has autism, remains on death row there despite having been convicted on now-debunked evidence that he had shaken his daughter to death.

Florida | Governor DeSantis signs death warrant in 2008 murder case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant for Michael L. King, setting an execution date of March 17, 2026, at 6 p.m. King was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2008 kidnapping, sexual battery and murder of Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old North Port mother. On January 17, 2008, Michael Lee King abducted 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee from her North Port home by forcing her into his green Chevrolet Camaro. He drove her around while she was bound, including to his cousin's house to borrow tools like a shovel. King took her to his home, where he sexually battered her, then placed her in the backseat of his car. Later that evening, he drove to a remote area, shot her in the face, and buried her nude body in a shallow grave. Her remains were discovered two days later. During the crime, multiple 9-1-1 calls were made, but communication breakdowns between emergency dispatch centers delayed the response. The case drew national attention and prompted w...

Supreme Court Denies Alabama Appeal, Allowing New Trial in Death Row Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for a new trial for one of Alabama’s longest-serving people on death row after declining to review a lower court ruling that prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by intentionally rejecting Black jurors. According to an article written by the Associated Press, one of the longest-serving death row inmates in Alabama might receive a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the state’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that prosecutors had violated his rights by intentionally rejecting Black jurors. According to the article, on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This decision paved the way for Michael Sockwell, the 63-year-old death row inmate, to receive a new trial.

Texas Plans Second Execution of the Year

Cedric Ricks is set to be killed on March 11 Cedric Ricks spoke in his own defense at his 2013 murder trial, something most defendants accused of a terrible crime do not do. Ricks confessed that he had killed his girlfriend, Roxann Sanchez, and her 8-year-old son. He admitted he was aggressive and had trouble controlling his anger, stating that he was “sorry about everything.” The Tarrant County jury was unmoved. Ricks has spent the last 13 years on death row and is scheduled to be executed on March 11.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog