Hasina verdict: Protests, arson rock Bangladesh, UN chief Guterres opposes verdict

Dhaka: Following the death sentence of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the country reeled under protests and attacks throughout the night as several vehicles were torched in five districts.

Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday pronounced a death sentence for former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after it found her guilty on the charges of crimes against humanity related to the demonstrations in July of last year.

The court also convicted Hasina and her two top aides, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former Inspector General of Police, Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun.

Mamun has been granted a pardon, but the court said that, given the intensity of the crimes, he will be given a "lenient sentence".

Following this, the effect was largely seen in Dhaka's Dhanmondi 32, where clashes turned the area into a battlefield on Monday. Additionally, at least 50 people, including the security personnel, were injured, reports leading Bangladeshi daily, Dhaka Tribune.

The house of Bangladesh's founding father and Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is located in Dhanmondi 32.

Demonstrators blocked several highways while leading marches, clashing with security forces, who had been deployed in the capital city and other areas of the South Asian nation. The police resorted to batons, sound grenades, and tear gas in an attempt to disperse the protesters.

More than 50 arson and crude bomb attacks were reported across Bangladesh over the last week, leaving at least three dead, reports leading Bangladeshi newspaper, The Daily Star.

Additionally, the house of former President Abdul Hamid in Kishoreganj was attacked and vandalised late on Monday night.

After Hasina's sentencing, a procession was taken out in the area to celebrate the decision, when a mob of 20-30 men attacked the former President's home, reports Prothom Alo.

The situation stays grim in the South Asian nation following the verdict on the democratically elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is against the death penalty imposed on Sheikh Hasina by a Bangladesh court, according to his Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

“We stand against the use of the death penalty in all circumstances”, he said on Monday, replying to a question at his daily briefing on the sentence imposed in absentia on the leader who is in exile in India.

Dujarric cited a statement by UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk and said that “we fully agree with” his opposition to death penalty.

He added, “I'd refer you to what Volker Türk's office said, that the verdicts delivered today is an important moment for victims of the grave violations committed during the suppression of protests last year in Bangladesh”.

Turk’s Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, in a statement issued in Geneva, said the verdicts against Hasina and her Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal “is an important moment for victims of the grave violations committed during the suppression of protests last year”.

But she acknowledged, “We were not privy to the conduct of this trial” and said such proceedings should “unquestionably meet international standards of due process and fair trial” when it is conducted in absentia with the possibility of death penalty.

IANS with inputs