Dhaka, Bangladesh – Shahina Begum broke down in tears the moment a special court in capital Dhaka sentenced deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her close aide, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, to death for crimes against humanity.
Begum’s 20-year-old son Sajjat Hosen Sojal was shot and his body burned by the police on August 5, 2024, hours before a student-led uprising forced Hasina to resign and flee the country she had ruled with an iron first for 15 years.
Prosecutors allege that six student protesters were killed that day in Ashulia, a readymade garments hub on the outskirts of Dhaka: five shot and their bodies burned, while another was allegedly burned alive inside the police station.
The killings, allegedly ordered by Hasina in a desperate bid to hang on to power, were part of a brutal crackdown by security forces on what is referred to in Bangladesh as the July Uprising, during which more than 1,400 protesters were killed, according to the United Nations.
After a months-long trial held in absentia as Hasina and Khan had fled to neighbouring India, Dhaka’s International Crimes Tribunal on Monday sentenced the two to death, while a third accused – former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun – was given a five-year jail term because he had turned a state witness.
“I cannot be calm until she [Hasina] is brought back and hanged in this country,” Begum told Al Jazeera on Monday night, as the historic verdict triggered a surge of emotions across the country of 170 million people.
“My son screamed for help inside that police station. No one saved him. I will not rest until those who burned him can never harm another mother’s child again.”
But as hundreds of families who lost their loved ones during last year’s uprising come to terms with Monday’s landmark sentencing, many wonder if Hasina will actually face justice.
There are questions around whether India, a close ally of Hasina during her 15 years of rule, would extradite her and Khan, or whether it might instead help them escape justice.
“They took five minutes to burn my son alive, but it took almost a year and a half to deliver this verdict,” said Begum from her ancestral home in Shyampur village in the northern Gaibandha district.
“Can this government really bring her back from India? What happens if the government changes and the next one protects Hasina and her collaborators? Who will guarantee that these killers won’t escape?”
‘Sentence must be carried out’
As hundreds gathered outside the tribunal building in Dhaka on Monday, Mir Mahbubur Rahman Snigdho – whose brother Mir Mugdho was shot dead during the uprising – said Hasina “deserves the maximum penalty many times over,” urging the authorities to bring her back to Bangladesh to enforce the judgement.
Standing close to him was Syed Gazi Rahman, father of killed protester Mutasir Rahman. He called for the sentence to be carried out “swiftly and publicly,” accusing Hasina of “emptying the hearts of thousands of families”.
Some 300km (186 miles) away, at Bhabnapur Jaforpara village in the northern district of Rangpur, family members of Abu Sayeed also welcomed the death sentence against the former prime minister.
Sayeed was the first casualty of the July Uprising, which started with mainly student-led protests against a controversial quota system for government jobs that disproportionately favoured the children of people who fought in the 1971 war for independence from Pakistan.
On July 16, 2024, Sayeed, a student leader, was shot dead by the police while demonstrating in Rangpur.
“My heart has finally cooled down. I am satisfied. She must be brought back from India and executed in Bangladesh without delay,” said his father, Mokbul Hossain.
“My son is gone. It pains me. The sentence must be carried out,” added his mother, Monowara Begum. She said the family distributed sweets to those visiting them after the verdict.
Sanjida Khan Dipti, mother of Shahriar Khan Anas, a 10th-grade student who was shot dead in Dhaka’s Chankharpul neighbourhood on August 5, 2024, told Al Jazeera the verdict is “only a consolation”.
“Justice will be served the day it is executed,” she said.
“As a mother, even 1,400 death sentences would be insufficient for someone who emptied the hearts of thousands of mothers. The world must see the consequences when a ruler unleashes mass killing to cling to power. God may grant you time, but He does not spare.”
Dipti said she was not satisfied with the verdict against former police chief al-Mamun.
“Abdullah al-Mamun should have received a longer sentence because, as part of the nation’s security force, he became a killer of our children,” she said.
‘No dictator should rise again’
Several processions were taken out in Dhaka and other parts of the country on Monday after Hasina was sentenced to death.
During a march inside the campus of the Dhaka University, Ar Rafi, a second-year undergraduate student, said they will rally to demand Hasina’s extradition from India.
“We are happy for now. But we want Hasina brought back from India and executed. We, the students, will remain on the streets until her sentence is carried out,” he told Al Jazeera.
Meanwhile, a group called Maulik Bangla staged a symbolic enactment of Hasina’s execution at Dhaka’s Shahbagh intersection area after the tribunal’s verdict.
“This is a message that no dictator should rise again,” said Sharif Osman bin Hadi, spokesperson for Inquilab Manch (Revolution Front), a non-partisan cultural organisation inspired by the July Uprising.
Political parties, including the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, also welcomed the verdict.
“This judgement proves that no matter how powerful a fascist or autocrat becomes, they will one day have to stand in the dock,” BNP leader Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters on Monday.
Jamaat leader Mia Golam Porwar said the ruling proves that “no head of government or powerful political leader is above the law”, and that the verdict offers “some measure of comfort” to families of those killed during the uprising.
The United Nations human rights office said while it considered the verdict was “an important moment for the victims”, it stressed that a trial held in absentia and resulting in a death sentence may not have followed due process and fair trial standards, as it reiterated its opposition to capital punishment.
Rights group Amnesty International also raised concerns about the fairness of the trial, saying the victims “deserve far better” and warning that rushed proceedings in absentia risk undermining justice.
“Victims need justice and accountability, yet the death penalty simply compounds human rights violations. It’s the ultimate cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment and has no place in any justice process,” it said.
But the families of the victims say the verdict was a recognition of the brutality of the crackdown, and raises hopes for a closure.
“This verdict sends a message: justice is inevitable,” said Atikul Gazi, a 21-year-old TikToker from Dhaka’s Uttara area who survived being shot at point-blank range on August 5, 2024, but ended up losing his left arm.
