In a historic legal development, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to six months in prison for contempt of court—marking the first conviction among multiple charges she faces. Tried in absentia, the court ruled based on a leaked audio clip in which Hasina allegedly threatened deadly retaliation against her critics, declaring, “I now have a licence to kill 227 people.” A forensic analysis confirmed the tape’s authenticity
This decision follows Hasina’s self‑imposed exile in India after her August 2024 ousting amid violent student protests. Earlier in the year, the ICT had leveled crimes‑against‑humanity and mass‑murder charges against her, accusing her of orchestrating violent crackdowns that led to nearly 1,400 deaths. The tribunals’ authority stems from its origin in prosecuting 1971 war crimes, though its broadened scope—now tackling contemporary violence—has drawn widespread scrutiny
Hasina remains in India; enforcement of the sentence hinges on her arrest or voluntary return. While her supporters call the trials politically driven, the interim government, under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, asserts that justice and accountability—not vengeance—are at play.
This six‑month sentence is set against a backdrop of over 150 pending cases against Hasina—ranging from genocide and murder to corruption and abduction .
The ruling signals a turning point in Bangladesh's fraught path toward reckoning with recent upheavals.