The appeal hearing regarding the enhancement of life imprisonment sentences of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has been scheduled for Wednesday. The appeal application is listed for hearing in Wednesday’s cause list of the Appellate Division.
Earlier, on 1 February, Appellate Division Chamber Judge Md Rezaul Haque set the date for the hearing. On the day, Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam had argued in favour of the application before the Chamber Court. Accordingly, the case was placed in the cause list of the Appellate Division on Tuesday, but the hearing did not take place.
Prior to this, on 15 December last year, the prosecution filed an appeal with the relevant branch of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. In that appeal, they sought the death penalty for Hasina and Kamal for crimes against humanity, increasing the sentence for the charge for which they were sentenced to life imprisonment. The prosecution cited eight grounds in the appeal to enhance the sentence.
Even earlier, on 17 November, the International Crimes Tribunal-1 sentenced Hasina and Kamal to death on one charge. They were sentenced to life imprisonment on another charge. In this case, the other accused, former IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun, became a prosecution witness and assisted the trial by providing information and evidence against the other two accused, for which the tribunal sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment.
Sheikh Hasina and Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal have been fugitives since the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024 in the face of a mass uprising. Their trial was conducted in absentia.
