Bangladesh tribunal sentences ousted leader Sheikh Hasina to death

Sheikh Hasina was tried in absentia in Dhaka (AP)

A special tribunal has sentenced Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to death on charges of crimes against humanity involving last year’s mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule.

The reading of the verdict on Monday from the tribunal in the capital, Dhaka, was broadcast live.

The interim government beefed up security ahead of the verdict, with soldiers, paramilitary border guards and police deployed in Dhaka and many other parts of the country.

Hasina’s Awami League party has called for a nationwide shutdown to protest against the verdict.

The former prime minister, who has been in exile in India, was tried in absentia.

She has called the tribunal a “kangaroo court” and denounced the appointment of a lawyer by the state to represent her.