Chronicling the rise and fall of Hasina

Bangladesh's Sheikh Hasina, sentenced to death in absentia on Monday for her deadly crackdown on student protesters last year, has been a dominant figure in the South Asian nation for half a century, a career rooted in bloodshed.

- Reuters

Thrust into prominence with the assassination of her father, independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and much of her family in a military coup, Hasina early on fought for democracy, but her long reign as prime minister became marked by arrests of opposition leaders, crackdowns on free speech and suppression of dissent.

She was found guilty of ordering lethal force by a tribunal in the capital Dhaka 15 months after resigning and fleeing to India in the face of a student-led uprising that killed hundreds or more.

Credited with turning around the economy

Despite criticism of her years in power, Hasina, 78, was credited with around the economy and the massive garments industry of the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million, while winning international praise for sheltering Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in neighbouring Myanmar.

But her downfall — she was ousted less than seven months after winning a fifth term as leader — was the protests that began over job quotas and swelled into a movement demanding her removal.