India, Nov. 20 -- Such is the impudence of Sheikh Hasina's death sentence that it puts irony to shame. It does not require a legal genius to comprehend that the trial of an autocrat with a well-documented portfolio of violations would have led to a guilty verdict. But judicial independence, procedural integrity, and stronger defence counsel could have delivered lasting justice. It may even have opened pathways for political reconciliation instead of privileging public catharsis. But Hasina was tried in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) that she herself created and compromised; the chief prosecutor is a political figure who once defended Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leaders unfairly sent to the gallows by the same sham court.

Even if one ac...