Bangladesh's longest-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed began her political career as a pro-democracy icon, but fled mass protests against her rule in August 2024 after 15 years in power.

Since then, Hasina has been in self-imposed exile in India, where she flew after being deposed by the student-led uprising which spiraled into nationwide unrest.

On 17 November, a special tribunal in Dhaka sentenced her to death after convicting her of crimes against humanity. It was found Hasina had ordered a deadly crackdown on protesters between 15 July and 5 August 2024. She denied all charges against her.

Up to 1,400 people were killed during the weeks of protests leading up to her ousting, most by gunfire from security forces, UN human rights investigators said. Their report found that she and her government had tried to cling to power using systematic, deadly violence against protesters.

It was the worst bloodshed the country had seen since independence in 1971.

The protests brought an unexpected end to the reign of Hasina, who had ruled Bangladesh for more than 20 years.

She and her Awami League party were credited with overseeing the South Asian country's economic progress. But in recent years she was accused of turning autocratic and clamping down on any opposition to her rule.

Politically motivated arrests, disappearances, extra-judicial killings, and other abuses all rose under her rule.

An order to 'use lethal weapons'

In January 2024, Hasina won an unprecedented fourth term as prime minister in an election widely decried by critics as being a sham and boycotted by the main opposition.

Protests began later that year demanding the abolition of quotas in civil service jobs. By summer, they had morphed into a wider anti-government movement as she used the police to violently crack down on protesters.

Amid increasing calls for her to resign, Hasina remained defiant and condemned the agitators as “terrorists.” She also threw hundreds of people into jail and brought criminal charges against hundreds more.

A leaked audio clip suggested she had ordered security forces to use lethal weapons against protesters. She denies ever issuing an order to fire on unarmed civilians.

Some of the bloodiest scenes occurred on 5 August, the day Hasina fled by helicopter before crowds stormed her residence in Dhaka. Police killed at least 52 people that day in a busy neighborhood, making it one of the worst cases of police violence in the country's history.

Hasina, who has been tried in absentia, called the tribunal a farce.

It is a kangaroo court controlled by my political opponents to deliver a pre-ordained guilty verdict... and to distract the world's attention from the chaos, violence and misrule of [the new] government, she told the BBC in the week before her verdict.

She called for the ban on her party to be lifted before elections due in February.

How did Sheikh Hasina come to power?

Born to a Muslim family in East Bengal in 1947, Hasina had politics in her blood.

Her father was the nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's Father of the Nation who led the country's independence from Pakistan in 1971.

At that time, Hasina had already established a reputation as a student leader at Dhaka University.

Her father was assassinated with most of his family members in a military coup in 1975. Only Hasina and her younger sister survived as they were traveling abroad at the time.

After living in exile in India, Hasina returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and became the leader of the Awami League, the political party her father belonged to.

She joined hands with other political parties to hold pro-democracy street protests during the military rule of General Hussain Muhammed Ershad. Propelled by the popular uprising, Hasina quickly became a national icon.

She was first elected to power in 1996 while gaining credit for signing important agreements, including a water-sharing deal with India.

However, her government faced criticism for corruption and over-reliance on India.

Hasina’s dynamic but contentious rule encompassed significant reforms and intense political rivalries, often leading to violence and political deadlock.

Many remember her as a political survivor who managed to thrive amid adversity, yet her legacy is deeply contested amidst demands for justice and accountability.