Hasina calls guilty crimes against humanity verdict 'politically motivated'

Bangla Press Desk:   Fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday called the guilty verdict and death sentence in her crimes against humanity trial "biased and politically motivated".

Hasina, 78, defied court orders that she return from India to attend her trial about whether she ordered a deadly crackdown against the student-led uprising that ousted her. She was found guilty and sentenced to death earlier on Monday.

"The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate," Hasina said in a statement issued from hiding in India. "They are biased and politically motivated."

BP/TD