The appeal hearing against the prosecution’s appeal regarding the life imprisonment sentences of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal will be held on Tuesday. The appeal application is listed in Tuesday’s cause list of the Appellate Division.
Earlier, on 1 February, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Md Rezaul Haque set this date for the hearing. On that day, the then Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam argued in favour of the application before the Chamber Court. Accordingly, the case has been placed in the cause list of the Appellate Division.
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.
