7 senior Awami League leaders sentenced to death in Bangladesh July movement case

Bangladesh's politics has erupted once again. The country's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has sentenced seven senior leaders close to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death. Following the verdict, the Awami League has strongly objected, calling it entirely one-sided, biased and a sham judgment aimed at eliminating political opponents.

According to available information, the tribunal on Tuesday convicted Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, a trusted aide of Sheikh Hasina, along with six other senior leaders of the party and affiliated organisations. The tribunal said the death sentences were handed down for crimes against humanity committed during the major public uprising of July 2024. The Awami League hit back, alleging that the current interim government is using the judiciary as a weapon against its opponents and calling it a form of judicial killing.

The Awami League raised both legal and moral questions over the verdict in an official statement. The party said none of the leaders sentenced to death were present before the tribunal during the hearings. It argued that under the basic rules of international criminal law, an accused must be guaranteed legal protection even in absentia, including the fundamental right to choose their own lawyer, but in this case all such global norms were set aside and the verdict was rushed through.

According to the party, the entire case was conducted unlawfully, disregarding all accepted principles of international human rights law and international criminal law. This, it said, is fostering political vendetta and criminal tendencies instead of establishing the rule of law in the country. The party said all actions taken by the ICT since the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government on 5 August 2024 amount to serious violations of international human rights.

Targeting Bangladesh's interim government, the Awami League said the government, which came to power through undemocratic means, has openly violated the constitution and legal process. It alleged that the International Crimes Tribunal Act of 1937 was arbitrarily amended through an ordinance to enable legal retribution against Awami League leaders within a legal framework. The party called the entire matter a premeditated political conspiracy.

The party further alleged that the prosecution and judicial committees formed by the government for political retribution have been packed with hardline activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). It said these committees have filed baseless cases against Awami League leaders and thousands of activists based on entirely false and fabricated evidence.

Following the verdict, the Awami League expressed deep concern that it could further intensify the violence that has continued in Bangladesh over the past two years. According to the party, hundreds of innocent people have already lost their lives in this political conflict, and the verdict will now lead to more arbitrary arrests and ruin the lives of thousands of activists in prison. The party also alleged that, citing the July-August 2024 violence, the government is carrying out torture in police custody and staging fake encounters.

The Awami League also made a striking claim. It said that while its leaders are being sentenced to death, hundreds of dangerous, previously convicted Islamist extremists across the country are being released on bail. The party warned that setting free people linked to international terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda is turning Bangladesh into one of the most dangerous places in the world.