Urgent UN appeal highlights serious fair trial concerns in Sheikh Hasina tribunal case

Ansar Ahmed Ullah
Contributing Editor,Shottobani

London: An Urgent Appeal has been filed with the United Nations raising grave concerns over alleged fair trial and due process violations in the ongoing in absentia trial of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina before the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).

The appeal, submitted by Steven Powles KC and Tatyana Eatwell of Doughty Street Chambers, London, was addressed to the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. It outlines multiple breaches of international human rights standards in the proceedings against Hasina, who faces charges of crimes against humanity.

Sheikh Hasina, who had served as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister since 2009, and whose Awami League government was re-elected in January 2024, left the country in August 2024 amid escalating protests that began over a quota system for public sector jobs and evolved into a broader movement demanding her resignation. Following her departure, Muhammad Yunus formed an interim government on 8 August, 2024. In July 2025, the ICT indicted Hasina and two senior officials for alleged crimes against humanity linked to the government’s handling of the 2024 protests. She is currently being tried in absentia, with a verdict expected soon. Observers believe she faces an almost certain death sentence if convicted.

The Urgent Appeal alleges that the ICT’s proceedings are taking place in a highly politicised environment under an unelected interim government lacking democratic legitimacy. It claims the tribunal has selectively prosecuted figures from Hasina’s administration while granting impunity to those involved in violent reprisals against her supporters during the 2024 unrest. According to the filing, the tribunal’s composition and conduct raise serious concerns under Article 14(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to an independent and impartial trial. The judges’ alleged ties to political groups opposed to the Awami League, and the Chief Prosecutor’s public calls to ban the party, are cited as indicators of bias.

The appeal also emphasises that Hasina has received no formal notification of the charges against her and that she is being represented by a state-appointed lawyer with whom she has had no communication or ability to instruct. Lawyers associated with the Awami League, it claims, have faced intimidation and violence, preventing them from performing their duties freely.

Despite a pending extradition request from India, where Sheikh Hasina currently resides, the trial has continued in her absence. The appeal argues that proceeding under such circumstances amounts to a violation of the right to a fair hearing. The filing warns that any death sentence resulting from such a “manifestly unfair” process would constitute a summary execution and a breach of Article 6 of the ICCPR, which guarantees the right to life.