Bangladesh live: Court verdict against toppled ex-PM Sheikh Hasina expected

A special tribunal in capital Dhaka is expected to announce a verdict today against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is being tried in absentia for crimes against humanity over a violent crackdown on student-led protests. The 78-year-old, along with two other officials, is accused of being the “mastermind and principal architect” behind last year’s suppression of mass demonstrations prompted by a controversial quota system in government jobs, in which some 1,400 people were killed.

Slain protester’s father wants death penalty for Hasina

Abdur Rob, whose son Miraz was killed during the anti-government demonstrations last year, says he wants the “highest punishment” for the deposed leader.

“If Sheikh Hasina is given the death penalty, she will die only once. We want her to face death hundreds and thousands of times,” Rob told The Daily Star newspaper as he stood outside the Supreme Court building, waiting for the verdict.

Rob said his son was shot dead by the police in Dhaka’s Jatrabari district on August 5 last year, as the people were celebrating the ouster of Sheikh Hasina.

“Only a father knows how heavy a child’s body is,” he told the newspaper.

Arrest warrants for the deposed PM Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan were issued in June this year after they failed to appear before the special tribunal.

A state-appointed lawyer was assigned to defend them. Formal charges were framed on July 10. Former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun confessed the same day and asked to testify for the prosecution.

Testimony ran from August 3 to October 8. Final arguments were completed between October 12 and October 23.

The tribunal last week set November 17 as the date for the verdict.