Contents
Sheikh Hasina
The long-serving Bangladeshi prime minister whose government fell after the deadly crackdown on protests in 2024.
Hill Tracts accord · Padma Bridge
- Born
- 28 September 1947
- Birthplace
- Bangladesh
More people
Nelson MandelaHelping end apartheid and becoming South Africa’s first Black president.
Winston ChurchillBeing a racist bigot and responsible for the orders that led to the Bengal famine of 1943, in which an estimated three million people died.
Franklin D. RooseveltLeading the United States through the Great Depression and most of the Second World War.Sheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina led Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001 and from 2009 to 2024. Economic and infrastructure growth under her governments accompanied deepening repression and disputed elections.
Early life
Tungipara
Born into the family of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Dhaka
Studied at the University of Dhaka.
Career
- 1981
Party leadership
Returned from exile to lead the Awami League.
- 1996
First premiership
Became prime minister after an election victory.
- 2024
Fall from power
Left Bangladesh for India during a mass uprising.
Policies & record
Hill Tracts accord
Her government signed the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord.
Padma Bridge
Opened a major infrastructure project.
Crimes-against-humanity conviction
A Bangladeshi tribunal convicted her in absentia over the 2024 crackdown.
Beyond work
Family tragedy
Most of her immediate family were killed in the 1975 assassination of her father.
Contested proceedings
She rejected the 2025 tribunal’s judgment as politically motivated.
Trial concerns
Human Rights Watch criticised the fairness of the trial conducted in her absence.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Human Rights Watch — conviction and fair-trial concerns, November 2025 ↗UN experts — Bangladesh communication ↗Photo: Press Information Department. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
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