UPDATE - Bangladeshi fugitive ex-Premier Hasina sentenced to death over deadly student crackdown

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK; EDITS THROUGHOUT

SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - A court in Dhaka on Monday sentenced Bangladesh’s fugitive former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death, finding her guilty of crimes against humanity committed during last year's mass demonstrations against her government.

Amid tight security, the Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal delivered the verdict in absentia since Hasina remains in India.

Hasina committed crimes against humanity, the court said in the verdict, adding that she was the “superior commander of all the atrocities.”

"The crimes happened in her (Sheikh Hasina’s) cool knowledge," the three-member tribunal, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, read from the 453-page judgement.

“All the conditions of being a case of crimes against humanity were proved” in Hasina’s case, it said.

Those sentenced to death include former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who is also out of Bangladesh.

Hasina and her aides can appeal before the apex court in person within the next 30 days.

- Property confiscated

Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 last year at the height of a mass uprising against her government, which led to the deaths of over 1,400 people.

​​​​​​​Later, the interim government brought five charges, including crimes against humanity, against Hasina and her aides.

The mass student-led uprising last year ousted Hasina's Awami League government, which had ruled the South Asian nation for over 15 years.

The court also ordered the confiscation of all property belonging to Hasina and former Home Minister Kamal.

It sentenced former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun to five years in jail as he "became an approver in the case by admitting his involvement."

“The justice and verdict were presented as a transparent process, and anyone across the world could come and check,” chief prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam told reporters at the court premises.

Islam said the victims of last year’s uprising will be given compensation from the property of Hasina and Kamal.

On how the verdict will be implemented as Hasina remains in India, Islam said that the government “can utilize the extradition treaty with India and execute the punishment or can go to Interpol to bring Hasina to Bangladesh.”

Mir Snigdho, the twin brother of Mir Mugdho, one of the coordinators of last year's July uprising and killed during the demonstrations, was also present at the court when the verdict was delivered.

He told reporters that the victims' families "will only be pleased after Hasina is brought home from India and the verdict is executed."