Sheikh Hasina’s lawyer’s panel makes urgent appeal to UN over ‘unfair trial’

Staff Correspondent

A panel of lawyers from London’s Doughty Street Chambers has filed an urgent appeal with the United Nations, alleging injustice and irregularities in the trial of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

London-based barristers Steven Pauls KC and Tatiana Eatwell filed the appeal on behalf of Sheikh Hasina with the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial or arbitrary executions.

The information was announced in a press release by the London-based legal services firm ‘Doughty Street Chambers’ in the UK on Monday.

The appeal states that the fundamental right to a fair trial and legal process are being seriously violated in the trial process being conducted in absentia in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) of Bangladesh in the absence of Sheikh Hasina.

Sheikh Hasina has been the Prime Minister of Bangladesh since 2009, and her party, the Awami League, returned to power in the January 2024 elections. In July of that year, when widespread protests over the quota movement began, Sheikh Hasina fled the country and took refuge in India on August 5. On August 8, an interim government was formed under the leadership of economist Muhammad Yunus.

In July 2025, the tribunal filed a case against Sheikh Hasina and two other top officials of her government on charges of crimes against humanity. The trial is ongoing in Sheikh Hasina’s absence and the verdict is awaited. According to lawyers, she faces the death penalty in the case.

The urgent appeal states that although there are allegations against members of the Sheikh Hasina government, the interim government is only prosecuting former government officials out of political vendetta. Rather, those who are claimed to have successfully staged a movement or ‘coup’ have been kept out of the scope of trial.

Lawyers at Doughty Street Chambers said the political affiliation of the tribunal judges and the biased position of the chief prosecutor had called into question the impartiality of Sheikh Hasina’s case. They added that Sheikh Hasina had not received a formal charge sheet and her preferred lawyers were unable to work due to attacks and threats. As a result, she was being tried by a state-appointed lawyer with whom she had no contact or direction.

Lawyers told the UN that a death sentence imposed in such circumstances would effectively amount to extrajudicial killing and violate Articles 6 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

Another statement from Doughty Street Chambers said that fundamental human rights violations and political vendettas have increased in Bangladesh since the ban on the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League.