Ex-minister under Hasina gets 10 years for protest crackdown in Bangladesh

Hasanul Haque Inu, a former Information Minister in the cabinet of Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh. The conviction relates to Inu's involvement in the repression of protests that occurred in 2024. This verdict means Inu avoids the death penalty, a sentence previously handed down to Hasina and her former Interior Minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, who were convicted in absentia last November.

Inu, who served as minister between 2012 and 2019, was found guilty on three of the eight charges brought against him by the prosecution. Each charge carried a 10-year sentence. However, the tribunal ordered these sentences to be served concurrently, resulting in an effective prison term of one decade. The International Crimes Tribunal, established by Hasina in 2010 to prosecute war crimes, has now delivered its sixth verdict since November 2025, as part of ongoing proceedings against former officials of Hasina's administration.

Chief Prosecutor Aminul Islam expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling, stating that the prosecution will appeal the sentence. "We are not satisfied with the verdict. We believe he should have received the death penalty. We will appeal the sentence. The tribunal ordered that the prison sentences for the three charges be served concurrently, but we believe the convictions should be served consecutively," Islam told reporters. The prosecution aims for a harsher penalty by arguing that the sentences should run one after the other, rather than simultaneously.

The tribunal found that Inu provided police with a list of protesters in a district where at least six people died. He also reportedly attended a meeting to ban the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami and urged Hasina to suppress the demonstrators during a phone call. This conviction marks the third former member of Hasina's government to be sentenced by the tribunal.

This case follows recent convictions related to the 2024 protests. Just days prior, the tribunal sentenced a former Dhaka Police commissioner and two other officers to death for killing and injuring protesters. Hasina fled Bangladesh to India on August 5, 2024, following weeks of widespread anti-government demonstrations, which the UN estimates resulted in over 1,400 deaths.

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We are not satisfied with the verdict. We believe he should have received the death penalty. We will appeal the sentence. The tribunal ordered that the prison sentences for the three charges be served concurrently, but we believe the convictions should be served consecutively.