Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to six months in prison by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on contempt of court charges, marking her first conviction since being forced from office in August 2024. The verdict, delivered in absentia by a three-member bench led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, also handed a two-month sentence to Shakil Akand Bulbul, a former leader of the Awami League’s student wing. Hasina, who has been living in self-exile in India since her ouster, will have her sentence enforced upon arrest or voluntary surrender.

The contempt case centers on a leaked phone conversation from October last year, in which Hasina allegedly told Bulbul, “227 cases have been filed against me, so I have obtained a licence to kill 227 people”. A forensic investigation by government authorities verified the recording’s authenticity. Prosecutors argued that Hasina’s statement constituted contempt of court by threatening the judiciary and attempting to intimidate those involved in ongoing war crimes trials related to the violent student-led protests that toppled her regime.

Hasina’s conviction comes amid ongoing legal action against several of her former ministers and senior officials, who are facing charges over the deadly crackdown on the protests. The mass uprising, led by the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) movement, initially called for government job quota reforms but quickly escalated, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 1,400 people, according to United Nations reports. The Awami League government was ultimately overthrown, and Hasina fled to India on August 5, 2024.

The ICT, established in 2010 by Hasina’s own government to address war crimes from the 1971 conflict, is now being used by the current administration under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to hold former leaders accountable for alleged rights violations and corruption. The tribunal’s latest ruling against Hasina underscores the shifting political landscape in Bangladesh and the judiciary’s willingness to pursue high-profile figures for contempt and other charges.