Global & US Headlines
Bangladesh Tribunal Condemns Ex-PM Hasina to Death, Dhaka Seeks Extradition from India
On 17 Nov 2025 Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal sentenced exiled former premier Sheikh Hasina to death for ordering the 2024 protest crackdown and immediately asked New Delhi—where she has lived since 5 Aug 2024—to surrender her under the 2013 extradition treaty.
Focusing Facts
- ICT-BD judgment delivered 17 Nov 2025 found Hasina guilty of crimes against humanity linked to up to 1,400 protester deaths and issued a death warrant in absentia.
- Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry filed a renewed extradition note-verbale to India the same day; India’s MEA “noted” the verdict but gave no decision, citing commitment to “peace, democracy, inclusion and stability.”
- Article 6 of the 2013 India-Bangladesh treaty lets India refuse extradition on political-offence grounds, and Hasina has been in Indian territory since fleeing Bangladesh on 5 Aug 2024.
Context
South Asia has seen deposed leaders tried and condemned before—Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s 1979 death sentence under General Zia still shadows Pakistan’s politics—but few cases have relied on a neighbour’s extradition choice. The episode underscores a century-long regional pattern: incumbents weaponising special tribunals to eliminate rivals while external powers weigh realpolitik against legal ideals. Bangladesh’s interim regime is using the very war-crimes court Hasina created in 2010, echoing revolutions that devoured their architects in France (1794) and Cambodia (1979). India now faces a test reminiscent of its 1956 refusal to hand over Hungarian refugees to Moscow: whether to prioritise treaty obligations or political stability on its border. How New Delhi decides will shape norms on cross-border asylum, the death penalty, and politicised justice across the subcontinent for decades; on a 100-year horizon it may mark either the entrenchment of tit-for-tat judicial reprisals or a precedent for insulating regional politics from vengeance cycles.
Perspectives
Bangladesh interim government–aligned outlets
including some South Asian regional media such as Asianet News Network and Frontline — They present the International Crimes Tribunal’s death sentence on Sheikh Hasina as long-awaited justice for atrocities during the 2024 student uprising and insist India has a legal and moral duty to extradite her immediately. By echoing Dhaka’s foreign-ministry talking points and praising the verdict as the “greatest event of establishing justice,” these reports gloss over questions about due-process, timing before elections and the tribunal’s past politicisation, indicating a stake in legitimising the unelected interim regime.
Indian mainstream diplomatic coverage
The Statesman, DNA explainer — They strike a cautious tone, noting New Delhi has ‘taken note’ of the verdict, highlighting the extradition treaty’s political-offence exception and signalling India will engage ‘constructively with all stakeholders’ rather than rush a hand-over. The emphasis on legal wiggle-room and regional stability mirrors India’s strategic interest in keeping leverage over Dhaka and avoiding domestic backlash, potentially muting tougher questions about human-rights or accountability.