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Published : 18 Nov 2025, 02:40 AM
The UK-based rights group, Amnesty International (AI), has described the trial of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal as “neither fair nor just”.
In a statement issued hours after the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh sentenced Hasina and Asaduzzaman to death over crimes against humanity during the July Uprising last year, the AI said: “Justice for victims of 2024 massacre not served by death sentence against Sheikh Hasina”.
“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,” said Agnès Callamard, secretary general of the agency.
“However, this trial and sentence is neither fair nor just,” she said in the statement.
AI explained that the “unprecedented speed” of this trial in absentia and verdict raises significant fair trial concerns for a case of this scale and complexity.
“Although Sheikh Hasina was represented by a court-appointed lawyer, the time to prepare a defence was manifestly inadequate. Such unfair trial indicators are compounded by reports that defence cross examination of evidence deemed to be contradictory was not allowed,” said the statement.
“This was not a fair trial. The victims of July 2024 deserve far better,” it added.
AI said victims need justice and accountability, but the death penalty simply compounds human rights “violations”.
“Justice for survivors and victims demands that fiercely independent and impartial proceedings, which meet international human rights standards are conducted,” said Agnès.
AI said it has long criticised the ICT for its “lack of independence and history of unfair proceedings”.
Bangladesh needs a justice process that is "scrupulously fair and fully impartial" beyond all suspicion of bias and does not resort to order further human rights violations through the death penalty, said the statement.
Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, the former police chief who turned into a state witness, was also sentenced to five years in prison in the ICT verdict. He pleaded guilty, and was tried in-person.
