"Very troubling development...I don't believe in death penalty": Shashi Tharoor on death sentence given to former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina

New Delhi [India], November 18 (ANI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday said that he does not believe in death penalty and that former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina having been given death sentence by International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh was "a very troubling development".
Tharoor, MP, told ANI that it is not appropriate for him to comment on internal matters of another country's judiciary but noted that the verdict is "not a positive development".
"Both domestically and abroad, I don't believe in the death penalty. Trial in absentia, when somebody doesn't get a chance to defend themselves and explain themselves and then you declare a death penalty...It is inappropriate to comment on the matters of another country's judiciary. But I must say that it's a very troubling development," the Congress leader said.
The International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh) sentenced Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death for committing "crimes against humanity" over the state crackdown on student protests that were organised in July and August 2024.
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 judgement concludes that Hasina and the two other accused, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun and Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, had orchestrated and committed 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 Delhi after the fall of her regime in Dhaka.
Responding to her conviction, Sheikh Hasina said that the decision was made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate.
In a statement shared by the Bangladesh Awami League, Sheikh Hasina 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."
She slammed the administration of Muhammad Yunus. "Millions of Bangladeshis toiling under the chaotic, violent and socially regressive administration of Dr Mohammad Yunus will not be fooled by this attempt to short-change them of their democratic rights. They can see that the trials conducted by the so-called International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) were never intended to achieve justice or provide any genuine insight into the events of July and August 2025. Rather, their purpose was to scapegoat the Awami League and to distract the world's attention from the failings of Dr Yunus and his ministers," she said. (ANI)