ICT's full circle: From founding to ruling on Hasina
The tribunal currently has 10 active cases, while the investigation agency is probing at least 37 additional cases related to the uprising.
The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), originally established to prosecute atrocities committed during the 1971 Liberation War, has entered a new phase as it delivered its first verdict under a reconstituted structure with the death sentence for former prime minister Sheikh Hasina today (17 November).
The verdict marks a symbolic full circle for the tribunal, which has shifted from addressing wartime crimes to ruling on recent political violence.
15-year legacy: 57 verdicts, six executions
The ICT was founded in 2010 under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973, to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and other international offences committed during the Liberation War.
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Abul Kalam Azad, also known as Bachchu Rajakar, received the tribunal's first verdict on 21 January 2013 and was sentenced to death in absentia.
Before its reconstitution in 2024, the tribunal delivered 57 verdicts over more than 15 years, during which six individuals were executed after completing all legal processes.
They were Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Abdul Quader Molla, Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Mir Quasem Ali, Ali Ahsan Mojaheed, Motiur Rahman Nizami, and BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury.
Quader Molla was sentenced to life imprisonment on 5 February 2013.
This verdict led to mass protests nationwide, demanding a death sentence. In the capital, the protests centred around Shahbagh, and the location of this protest became known at the time as Gonojagoron Moncho (Mass Awakening Platform).
Originally, the 1973 Act did not allow the prosecution to appeal Tribunal verdicts.
However, amid protests, the government passed the International Crimes Tribunal Bill, 2013, granting appeal rights. Following this change, the prosecution filed an appeal seeking the maximum penalty for Quader Molla, who simultaneously appealed for acquittal.
His death sentence was announced by the Appellate Division on 17 September 2013 and he was subsequently executed on 12 December 2013, which was the first death sentence carried out.
Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, on 9 May 2013, was found guilty by the tribunal and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed on 11 April 2015 in Dhaka's Central Jail.
Ali Ahsan Mojaheed was sentenced to death on 17 July 2013 and executed in November 2015.
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury was sentenced to death on 1 October 2013 and executed in November 2015, becoming the first BNP leader to face execution under the ICT.
Motiur Rahman Nizami was sentenced to death on 29 October 2014 and executed in May 2016.
Mir Quasem Ali was sentenced to death in November 2014 and executed in September 2016.
Several other high-profile figures were convicted during this period.
Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, former nayeb-e-ameer of Jamaat, was sentenced to death on 28 February 2013, later commuted to imprisonment until death; he died in custody in 2023.
Ghulam Azam, former ameer of Jamaat, was sentenced to 90 years in prison on 15 July 2013 and died on 23 October 2014 with his appeal pending.
ATM Azharul Islam, Jamaat's acting secretary general, was sentenced to death on 30 December 2014 but later acquitted on appeal in 2025, becoming the first person to be cleared at that stage.
Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin was sentenced to death on 3 November 2013; he left Bangladesh after independence, obtained British citizenship, and continues to reside abroad.
The tribunal's early years were marked by public debate and legal scrutiny, including challenges to its founding law, controversies over witness handling, and the widely discussed "Skype scandal" during Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury's verdict proceedings.
Tribunal's reconstitution and Hasina's trial
Following the July 2024 mass uprising, the interim government reconstituted the ICT in October 2024, shifting its mandate from historic war crimes to recent political violence.
The tribunal currently has 10 active cases, while the investigation agency is probing at least 37 additional cases related to the uprising.
A case against Sheikh Hasina over charges of crimes against humanity is the first to reach verdict under the reformed tribunal.
Hasina, along with former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, was sentenced in absentia as co-defendant former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun gave his statement as a state witness.
The verdict marks a dramatic shift for the tribunal, which has moved from adjudicating 1971 atrocities to ruling on the events that shaped Bangladesh's most recent political crisis.
