Dhaka, Nov. 17 -- International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Chief Prosecutor Tajul Islam has rejected suggestions that the death sentence for deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina over crimes against humanity committed during attempts to suppress the July Uprising represented an "act of political retribution" against her.

In a dramatic reversal of fortune, the capital punishment for Hasina on Monday came from the very tribunal that her government had established to try the war crimes of 1971.

Death sentences had been carried out for five top leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and a member of the BNP by the tribunal during the Awami League's rule.

Hinting at this history, Tajul said: "We believe this verdict is not any kind of revenge for the past. It...