Ex-leader Hasina gambles on return to Bangladesh despite death penalty

She has always rejected the charges on which she was convicted as politically motivated. But UN investigators found evidence that she and her government tried to cling to power using systematic, deadly violence.In audio of one phone call verified by BBC Eye, Hasina was heard authorising the deadly crackdown on demonstrators. Prosecutors used the recording as crucial evidence in convicting her. The UN estimates up to 1,400 people were killed, most by gunfire from security forces, during the protests, which started as a student-led movement against quotas in government jobs and turned into a mass uprising.The 78-year-old fled Dhaka as tens of thousands of demonstrators held protests and stormed government buildings, including her official residence, plunging the country of more than 170 million into crisis.Soon after she was toppled, an interim government took charge. The Bangladesh-nationalist-party" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="5960" data-entity-type="organization">Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power after elections in February this year, with its leader Tarique Rahman now prime minister. His government had already warned local mediase not to publish or broadcast Hasina's comments. After her address, it said it was "outraged" India had allowed her to take part in a public meeting with the media."Our people have firmly resolved that our nation will never again go back to the dark days of fascism and that Bangladesh will never be a client state," a foreign ministry statement said. Hasina's presence in Delhi has strained relations with Bangladesh, which wants her extradited, a request India says it's examining.