'Champion of Democracy' now a death row convict

In May 1981, she returned home after a six-year exile in the Indian capital, Delhi, welcomed by cheering crowds of party workers and supporters. Yesterday, as an International Crimes Tribunal delivered its verdict against her, awarding death sentence for crimes against humanity, she was again in Delhi – where she took shelter after fleeing aboard a military helicopter on 5 August 2024 amid a massive student-led uprising that ended her 15-year iron rule.

Rising to power for the second time in 2009, Sheikh Hasina was often praised by loyalists as a "champion of democracy" and "mother of humanity". Now, she stands convicted for using state machinery to attempt to brutally suppress a student-led mass uprising, killing more than a thousand and injuring several thousands in July and August last year.

As chief of the Awami League, now officially banned, Hasina once joined major political forces including the BNP, led by Khaleda Zia, in a movement against military dictator HM Ershad to restore democracy. Now, she is accused of systematically destroying democratic institutions during her rule, orchestrating three general elections that kept political opponents sidelined or subdued.

She had pledged to defend democracy and promote people's constitutional rights. But she never delivered on those promises. She even announced more than once, last after the 2018 elections, that she would retire from politics. That never happened. Instead, she arranged the political landscape in a way that would prolong her stay in power as long as she wished. Over time, she grew increasingly authoritarian, showing intolerance towards political opposition and using various means to uproot the BNP, her main rival.

She abolished the caretaker government system – which had defined Bangladesh's transition to electoral democracy since 1991 after the fall of Ershad. That constitutional amendment marked the beginning of Bangladesh's electoral crisis. Major political forces, including the BNP, denounced the move and took to the streets, only to face violent police action, cases, and arrests.

The mechanism effectively kept the BNP out of the 2014 election, in which more than half of the 300 parliamentary seats were won unopposed – the first such instance in Bangladesh's electoral history. Parliament became devoid of a meaningful opposition, but she did not care about its legitimacy, at home or abroad, as she continued along her path towards absolutism.

She managed to bring the BNP into the 2018 election by promising fair play, but that election created another precedent – ballot boxes were stuffed the night before polling, allegedly with the help of law enforcers.

The BNP and its allies felt deceived. Khaleda Zia was in jail, facing multiple cases. Extending her tenure for a third time in a row through a massively rigged election, Hasina appeared increasingly reckless – passing draconian laws and using them widely to silence opposition voices and intimidate critics through security and intelligence agencies, both covertly and overtly. 

The fear of enforced disappearance became widespread. Calls from human rights groups were ignored. The Disappearance Commission, formed by the interim government, unearthed horrific evidence of dissidents being confined in so-called "Aynaghor" facilities – many of whom remain untraced.

Another constitutional amendment empowered parliament to remove Supreme Court judges – a move that led to a confrontation with the then chief justice and ultimately forced him to resign and leave the country.

Institutions she once vowed to make credible and accountable virtually collapsed – or, more precisely, were made toothless. The Election Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission, bureaucracy, police, and judiciary all failed. Financial regulators such as the Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission were made to serve crony capitalists linked to her government. The list goes on.

Oligarchs were given free rein to empty banks. State funds and foreign loans were allegedly plundered through large public projects with inflated costs, as revealed in the White Paper published by the interim government. Her regime has been dubbed kleptocracy – ruled by thieves.

Yet, she appeared unstoppable. She staged 2024 elections to renew her stay for the fourth straight time. The election was boycotted by key political opponents,  and she allowed dummy candidates to make it look competitive. Her tyranny was cut short this time. Within eight months of the flawed and widely unaccepted elections, Hasina's government fell amid massive uprising and she had to flee.

Ironically, now in exile, the "iron lady" who violated democratic norms is calling for inclusive elections through media interviews. After repeatedly renewing her stay in power through rigged polls and disregarding the rule of law, she now finds herself unable to defend her own case through months of prosecution. What an irony indeed!