According to Mehul news agency, a court in Dhaka on Monday found Sheikh Hasina guilty of crimes against humanity during mass demonstrations against the government last year and sentenced her to death.
The International Crimes Tribunal handed down the sentence under tight security and in the absence of Hasina, who is in India, the BBC reported.
The court said Hasina had committed crimes against humanity and described her as the “commander-in-chief of all atrocities.”
“The crime took place in her (Sheikh Hasina’s) cold knowledge,” the three-member panel led by Judge Mond Golam Mortuza Mozumder said while reading the 453-page judgment.
The newspaper said that “all the conditions for crimes against humanity have been proven” against her.
Former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who is also outside Bangladesh, was similarly sentenced to death.
Hasina and her aides are allowed to appeal directly to the Supreme Court within 30 days.
Hasina fled to India on August 5 last year amid massive riots that left more than 1,400 people dead.
MNA