A Dhaka-based war crimes tribunal has found Sheikh Hasina guilty of contempt of court

Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been handed a six-month prison sentence by the Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in a contempt of court case, the Dhaka Tribune reports.

The verdict was delivered by the three-member tribunal on Wednesday. Bangladeshi prosecutors had requested the tribunal over a telephone conversation in which Hasina allegedly said that she had a license to kill 227 people, as 227 cases had been filed against her, according to the Dhaka Tribune. 

The ICT is a Bangladeshi domestic war crimes tribunal that was set up in 2009 to investigate and prosecute collaborators involved in the genocide carried out by the nation's Pakistani rulers during the country's war of independence in 1971. Hasina, who left Bangladesh for neighboring India after her government was deposed in a 2024 coup, was tried and convicted by the ICT in absentia. Earlier this year, Dhaka sent a diplomatic note to New Delhi requesting her return to face trial, to which the Indian government has not yet formally responded.

This is the first prison sentence for Hasina since she left Bangladesh. In June, the ICT formally charged Hasina with crimes against humanity in connection with a crackdown on mass protests that took place last year and led the ouster of the government run by her party, the Awami League.

Mohammad Tajul Islam, ICT's chief prosecutor, has accused Hasina of orchestrating a "systemic attack" on the protestors. A February report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said "as many as 1,400 people may have been killed between 15 July and 5 August (2024), and thousands were injured, the vast majority of whom were shot by Bangladesh's security forces."

Hasina, who resigned on August 5, 2024, has maintained her innocence. She plans to present arguments to seek her discharge from these allegations, according to her defense lawyer, Amir Hossain. In May, Bangladesh's interim government, led by Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus, barred the Awami League from running in the next general election, saying it was in the interests of national security and sovereignty.