Trial and sentence against Hasina neither fair nor just: Amnesty

The trial and sentence against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal is neither fair nor just, Amnesty International said following the death sentences handed down to them by the International Crimes Tribunal.

“Those individually responsible for the egregious violations and allegations of crimes against humanity that took place during the student-led protests in July and August 2024 must be investigated and prosecuted in fair trials. However, this trial and sentence is neither fair nor just,” Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said in a statement on Monday.

“Victims need justice and accountability, yet the death penalty simply compounds human rights violations. It’s the ultimate cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment and has no place in any justice process,” she added.

More than 1,400 people were killed and thousands injured between July and August 2024. Callamard said justice for survivours and victims requires “fiercely independent and impartial proceedings” that meet international human rights standards. Instead, she said, the trial was conducted before a court that Amnesty International has long criticised for its lack of independence and history of unfair proceedings.

She further noted that the unprecedented speed of the trial in absentia and its verdict raises significant fair trial concerns for a case of such scale and complexity. Although Sheikh Hasina was represented by a court-appointed lawyer, the time allowed to prepare a defence was “manifestly inadequate,” she said. Such unfair trial indicators are compounded by reports that defence cross examination of evidence deemed to be contradictory was not allowed,” she added. 

“This was not a fair trial. The victims of July 2024 deserve far better,” Callamard said. “Bangladesh needs a justice process that is scrupulously fair and fully impartial, beyond all suspicion of bias, and one that does not resort to further human rights violations through the death penalty. Only then can genuine and meaningful truth, justice and reparations be delivered.”