New Delhi [India], November 17 (ANI): The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said that India has taken note of the verdict announced by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh' concerning former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and said that India remains committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh.

MEA underlined that India will always engage constructively with all stakeholders.

The statement said, 'India has noted the verdict announced by the ' International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh' concerning former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. As a close neighbour, India remains committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh, including in peace, democracy, inclusion and stability in that country. We will always engage constructively with all stakeholders to that end.'

A Bangladesh court on Monday afternoon found ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina guilty of committing 'crimes against humanity' during the July-August uprising in 2024. Local media reported that the International Crimes Tribunal-1 has sentenced Hasina to death.

The tribunal found the former PM guilty on all five charges of crimes against humanity, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

The news outlet further said that the historic judgement concludes that Hasina and the two other accused, former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had orchestrated and enabled atrocities during the July-August movement.

The Awami league leader, who is currently in exile in India was tried in absentia. The 78-year-old leader had fled to New Dehi after the fall of her regime in Dhaka.

Hasina responded to the verdict made against her, calling the decision made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate.

In a statement of Hasina shared by the Bangladesh Awami league, responding to the verdict, she said, 'The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate. They are biased and politically motivated. In their distasteful call for the death penalty, they reveal the brazen and murderous intent of extremist figures within the interim government to remove Bangladesh's last elected prime minister, and to nullify the Awami League as a political force. '

On ICT, she said, 'I wholly deny the accusations that have been made against me in the ICT. I mourn all of the deaths that occurred in July and August of last year, on both sides of the political divide. But neither I nor other political leaders ordered the killing of protestors.'

Hasina added she was not given fair chance to defend myself in court, nor even to have lawyers of her own choice represent her in absentia.

'Despite its name, there is nothing international about the ICT; nor is it in any way impartial. Its agenda should be evident to anyone who considers the following incontrovertible facts. Any senior judges or even senior advocates who have previously expressed any sympathy for the previous government have been removed or intimidated into silence. The ICT has exclusively prosecuted members of the Awami League. It has done precisely nothing to prosecute or even investigate perpetrators from the other parties of documented violence against religious minorities, indigenous people, journalists and others', her statement mentioned.

Hasina added, 'This same court was used to try the war criminals who undermined our fight for independence in 1971. There is no other motive than the personal pursuit of revenge against a democratically elected government that upheld the nation's independence and sovereignty.'

She highlighted that she has repeatedly challenged the interim government to bring these charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, and added, 'The interim government will not accept this challenge, because it knows that the ICC would acquit me. The interim government also fears that the ICC would scrutinise its own record of human rights breaches in office.' (ANI)