- Court also awards 7 to life in prison, 2 to seven years in prison, and acquits 1 defendant who later became state approver

DHAKA, Bangladesh

A Bangladesh court on Thursday handed down the death penalty to six people, mostly police officers and supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, for crimes against humanity, including killing protesters and burning their bodies during the 2024 uprising.

Of the six victims, one was still alive when a convicted police officer set fire to a pile of bodies on a rickshaw van in Ashulia, an area of Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka, on Aug. 5, 2024—the day Hasina fled to India amid the mass uprising.

The verdict was announced by a three-member judicial panel led by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury from the country's International Crimes Tribunal-2.

The court also sentenced seven people to life in prison, two to seven years in prison, and acquitted one defendant who later became a state approver. It also ordered the confiscation of all properties belonging to one of the convicts, a former lawmaker in Hasina's parliament, to be distributed to the needy.

According to case details, on Aug. 5, 2024—the day the Awami League government collapsed—six people were shot and their bodies burned in the Ashulia police station area on the outskirts of Dhaka. One of the victims was alive at the time and was burned after gasoline was poured on the bodies.

A case was filed with the International Crimes Tribunal in Sept. 2024 on charges of crimes against humanity after the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus took office.

Those sentenced to death are former lawmaker Muhammad Saiful Islam, former Ashulia Police Station officer-in-charge AFM Sayed, former sub-inspector Abdul Malek, former assistant sub-inspector Bishwajit Saha, former constable Mukul Chokder, and Awami League youth wing leader Roni Bhuiyan.

Seven other accused, all former police officers, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Of the 16 people charged in the case, eight have been arrested and remain in custody.

Earlier on Nov. 17 of last year, the same court sentenced Hasina to death in a separate case involving crimes against humanity.

According to the UN, about 1,400 people were killed and thousands more injured during the 2024 uprising, most of them by police gunfire and members of Hasina’s Awami League party.