Bangladesh’s fugitive ex-leader Sheikh Hasina warned Wednesday that holding elections without her party — the first since her overthrow — was “sowing the seeds” of further division in her country.

In written responses to AFP, her first interview since being ousted, Hasina also condemned her crimes against humanity trial as a “jurisprudential joke”, adding she believed a guilty verdict was “preordained”.

Toppled in August 2024 by a student-led uprising that ended her 15-year autocratic rule, Hasina fled by helicopter as crowds stormed her palace.

The UN says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as she tried to cling to power — deaths now at the centre of her trial.

The 78-year-old former prime minister has been in hiding ever since, hosted by old ally India.

But she remains def

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