Bangladesh ex-PM Hasina in absentia gets six months in jail for contempt of court

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FILE PHOTO: Sheikh Hasina speaks during the annual Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany February 17, 2024. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo

DHAKA - Bangladeshs ousted and self-exiled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to six months in prison by the countrys International Crimes Tribunal on Wednesday in a contempt of court case, a top prosecutor said.

Hasina has been facing multiple cases since she fled to India after deadly student-led protests in August, but it was the first time the former leader was sentenced in one of them.

Shakil Akand Bulbul, a leader of the Awami League partys banned student wing Chhatra League, was also sentenced to two months in prison in the same case, Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam told reporters. The party had been led by Hasina for years.

A three-member ICT tribunal, led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder, delivered the verdict in their absence, noting that the sentences will take effect upon arrest or surrender, the prosecutor added.

The contempt charges stem from a leaked phone recording where Hasina was allegedly heard saying, there are 227 cases against me, so I now have a licence to kill 227 people.

A forensic report by a government investigative agency later confirmed the audios authenticity.

The ICT was originally set up in 2010 by Hasinas own government to try 1971 war crimes.

Bangladeshs interim administration, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, pledged to hold leaders, including Hasina, accountable for rights abuses and corruption, including the crackdown on the student-led uprising last July that toppled Hasinas regime.