Death penalty delivered to B'desh's ousted PM Hasina

COURT SAYS SHE COMMITTED 'CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY'

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

BANGLADESH'S DEPOSED PRIME minister Sheikh Hasina was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal for "crimes against humanity" over her government's brutal crackdown on student-led protests last year.

In its verdict that followed a months-long trial, the country's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) described the 78-year-old Awami League leader as the "mastermind and principal architect" of the violent repression that killed hundreds of protesters. It also handed the death sentence to former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on similar charges.

Hasina has been living in India since she fled Bangladesh on August 5 last year in the face of the massive protests. She was earlier declared a fugitive by the court.