Dhaka | Bangladesh's deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina was on Monday sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal for "crimes against humanity" committed during the wide-spread protests against her government in July last year.

Hasina, 78, who has been living in India since her government was toppled on August 5 last year, was sentenced by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD).

She was earlier declared a fugitive by the court.

Reading out the judgment before a heavily guarded courtroom in Dhaka, the tribunal said the prosecution had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Hasina was behind the deadly crackdown on student-led protests between July 15 and August 15 last year.

A UN rights office report had earlier estimated that up to 1,400 people were killed during the month-long agitation, known as the July Uprising.

Hasina was handed the death penalty for ordering the use of deadly force against unarmed protesters, making inflammatory statements and authorising operations that led to the killing of several students in Dhaka and surrounding areas.