Tensions are high in Bangladesh as a tribunal has convicted fugitive former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on charges of crimes against humanity.
Security was beefed up in the capital Dhaka and across the country as rival factions anticipated the ruling of the special tribunal, which was announced on Monday.
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The prosecution is seeking the death penalty for Hasina, 78, who has been in exile in India since an uprising last year that killed hundreds of people and ended her 15-year rule.
The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed and thousands injured in a crackdown as Hasina tried to cling to power.
Bangladesh has been led by an interim government since, and has been mired in political turmoil. Violence has marred campaigning for elections, expected in February 2026, that will choose a new government.
Authorities and the military are braced for potential violence.
Security forces have surrounded the court since the date of the verdict was set on Thursday, with armoured vehicles manning checkpoints.
Dhaka Municipal Police spokesman Talebur Rahman said the force would remain on high alert, and that almost half the city’s 34,000 police would be on duty on Monday.
‘Kangaroo court’
Hasina defied court orders that she return from India to attend the trial. The former-PM’s Awami League party has labelled the tribunal a “kangaroo court” and called for a nationwide shutdown.
In a message to supporters, Hasina insisted that the allegations against her are false.
“Let them issue a verdict. I don’t care. God gave me life, God will take it, but I will keep working for the people of my country. I have lost my parents, my siblings, and they burned down my home,” the former leader said, according to India’s NDTV.
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“I am telling my party workers: Don’t worry, it is a matter of time. I know you are suffering, we will not forget this, everything will be accounted for,” she added.
‘Use lethal weapons’
Prosecutors have filed five charges against Hasina, including failure to prevent murder, which amount to crimes against humanity under Bangladeshi law.
Secret phone call recordings, accessed by Al Jazeera, have revealed that Hasina “issued an open order” to “use lethal weapons” on protesters and shoot “wherever they find them”.
“Justice will be served according to the law,” Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam told reporters when the verdict date was set last week.
The trial has heard months of testimony alleging that the former leader ordered mass killings. Hasina has called the trial a “jurisprudential joke”.
Her co-accused include former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal – also a fugitive – and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who is in custody and has pleaded guilty.
Hasina was assigned a state-appointed lawyer for the trial, but she has refused to recognise the court’s authority.
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