Bangladesh ex-leader Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death

The months-long tribunal in Bangladesh's domestic war crimes court was widely expected to find her guilty.

But the verdict marks a pivotal moment for the nation, vindicating protests that found their roots in anger over years of repression under her rule.

Hasina had governed Bangladesh for 15 years, overseeing economic progress, but increasingly attempting to silence opposition, with politically-motivated arrests, disappearances and extra-judicial killings.

The protests saw Hasina forced to flee and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus installed as leader of an interim government.

Reacting to the verdict on Monday in a five-page statement, Hasina said the death penalty was the interim government's way of "nullifying [her party] the Awami League as a political force" and that she was proud of her government's record on human rights.

"I am not afraid to face my accusers in a proper tribunal where the evidence can be weighed and tested fairly."

The student-led uprising last year started with demands to abolish government job quotas but morphed into a wider anti-government movement.