A Bangladesh court sentenced seven senior leaders of the former ruling Awami League to death in absentia on Tuesday for their involvement in suppressing a student-led uprising in 2024. The group includes two former ministers, among them party general secretary Obaidul Quader and Mohammad Ali Arafat.
The three-member tribunal, led by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, convicted the men on charges of crimes against humanity, including murder and incitement to violence. Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam expressed satisfaction with the verdict.
The sentencing relates to an estimated 1,400 deaths that occurred between July and August 2024 during government efforts to quell nationwide protests. The unrest followed years of increasingly authoritarian governance under Sheikh Hasina, whose administration had lasted 15 years before she fled Bangladesh in August 2024, reportedly escaping by helicopter to India. Hasina herself was sentenced to death in absentia in November 2025.
Defence counsel M Hasan Imam contested the severity of the sentences, arguing that the accused were not directly involved in the killings and that the court should have considered lesser penalties. The convicted leaders remain at large, and it is unclear if or when they will be apprehended to serve their sentences.