A court in Bangladesh on Monday sentenced ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to death after convicting her of crimes against humanity during the 2014 uprising.

The court also handed down a death sentence to former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman in the case, while a third defendant, a former police chief, was sentenced to five years in prison after he turned “state witness” against Hasina and pleaded guilty.

The interim government reinforced security ahead of the verdict, deploying soldiers, paramilitary border guards and police in the capital and many other parts of the country.

Hasina’s Awami League party called for a nationwide shutdown in protest against the verdict issued in absentia against Sheikh Hasina and Khan, who are currently residing in India.

Sheikh Hasina and her party described the trial as a “sham” lacking judicial standards, and condemned the appointment of a lawyer by the state to represent her.

Hasina and Khan face charges of crimes against humanity over the killing of hundreds of people during a student-led uprising in July and August 2024.

The United Nations, in a report issued last February, said that up to 1,400 people may have been killed in the violence, while the country's health advisor under the interim government said that more than 800 people had been killed and about 14,000 injured.

Hasina survived at least 19 assassination attempts during her decades-long political career since 1981.