The verdict, also against former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former Inspector General of Police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who later became a cooperating witness, was scheduled for last Thursday but was postponed until this Monday.

Dhaka awoke to a heavy security presence as authorities attempted to contain attacks or attempted violence in the capital, where bomb explosions and arson attacks on buses have been reported since last week.

Hasina, currently in exile in India, is being tried in absentia by the special tribunal, and the prosecution has requested the death penalty for her alleged role in the violent repression of the 2014 uprising that ultimately toppled her government in August of that year.

In response, the British law firm Doughty Street Chambers filed an urgent appeal with the United Nations, arguing that Hasina was being tried in a context of political revenge under an unelected interim government lacking a democratic mandate.

In recent weeks, the Awami League, Hasina’s political party now considered illegal, has filed several complaints with international courts, accusing the interim administration of political repression and human rights violations.

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