Hasina Calls Death Sentence ‘Legally Void’, Seeks ICT Intervention

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called the death sentence awarded to her last year by a tribunal as “legally void” and has sought the International Crimes Tribunal to intervene to set aside the punishment.

Hasina spoke out against the death sentence handed out to her for the first time since the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Tarique Rahman stormed to power in the February 2026 national polls and became Prime Minister.

Hasina sent a 10-page note to the ICT, challenging last year’s verdict against her for alleged crimes committed during her rule just ahead of being ousted by a youth movement in late 2024.

Her legal team prepared her challenge to last year’s sentencing and sought that the death penalty imposed on her be set aside.

The formal challenge to the verdict asked the authorities to stop any move to carry out the sentence, urging that doing so would amount to “summary execution” in violation of international law.

“No steps be taken to execute the death sentence, which would constitute summary execution in violation of international law,” Hasina’s letter read.

London-based law firm Kingsley Napley, which represents Hasina, made it clear that she is willing to engage with the process, saying she is ready to “participate meaningfully” before what she believes should be an independent and impartial tribunal.

This move is a sharp departure from how Hasina’s team handled and engaged with the previous interim regime led by Muhammad Yunus.

When Yunus was still in power, in December last year, her legal team had sent another letter to ICT in which it accused the tribunal of conducting a “witch hunt” of the Awami League.

The letter, sent then, described the interim Yunus regime as “increasingly desperate and adrift.” However, this time around, the letter to the ICT is more conciliatory.

Her latest letter to the ICT raises broader concerns about due process of law and judicial independence in Bangladesh. Now, the ball is in the ICT’s court to decide if it takes up Hasina’s challenge or to uphold her death sentence, and get it executed.