Sheikh Hasina says she will return to Bangladesh despite death sentence

What Hasina announced

Sheikh Hasina, the former Bangladeshi prime minister who fled to India in August 2024, said on Wednesday that she plans to return to Bangladesh, despite having been sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity. Speaking via video link at an event hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) of South Asia, the 78-year-old appeared alongside her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and other Awami League figures, including former Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel. “I may be detained, I may be sent to prison. But fear cannot decide my duty to the people,” she said, adding, “I cannot stay away while my beloved countrymen are suffering.” She did not give an exact date but said she wants to return by December this year, and called for the ban on her Awami League party to be lifted. Her son said the family has had no contact with the current Bangladeshi government.

The case against her

Hasina fled by helicopter to New Delhi in August 2024 after a student-led uprising, initially sparked by anger over a government-job reservation system, toppled her 17-year rule. She was later found guilty in absentia of incitement, ordering killings and failing to prevent atrocities during the crackdown on protesters, and was sentenced to hang for crimes against humanity. An estimated 1,400 people were killed and more than 20,000 injured in the unrest, according to figures cited by Al Jazeera. Bangladesh’s interim government also sought the death penalty over roughly 1,500 alleged cases of enforced disappearance during her rule, many involving political opponents from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami. Hasina has dismissed the verdict as “legally void” and refused to attend her own trial in Dhaka. A caretaker government ran the country after her ouster, and elections were held earlier this year, bringing Tarique Rahman to power as the new prime minister.

India’s role and the diplomatic backdrop

Bangladesh has repeatedly asked India to extradite Hasina, but New Delhi has said only that the request is going through legal examination and has otherwise let her remain in the country. Ahead of Wednesday’s address, India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters the government “has no involvement whatsoever” in the event and does not endorse anything said there, describing it as organized by a private media outlet. The announcement comes as India and Bangladesh work to mend relations that frayed after Hasina’s fall — India has invited Prime Minister Rahman to a BRICS summit in September. Bangladeshi authorities, meanwhile, banned domestic media from airing Hasina’s speech; an aide, Abu Obaidha Arin, said Dhaka’s attempt to “silence dissent” would not extinguish her voice beyond its borders. This was not Hasina’s first remote address to the FCC — in January she delivered an audio speech, heard by more than 100,000 people online, accusing Bangladesh’s then-interim leader Muhammad Yunus of being a “murderous fascist” and predicting the country would never hold free and fair elections under him. Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said at the time it was “surprised and shocked” that India allowed such a broadcast from its capital.

How the coverage differs

Sky News offers the most compact account, stating simply that Hasina intends to return despite the death sentence. Al Jazeera’s two pieces go deeper: one written ahead of the speech previews what to expect, detailing the death toll, the media ban in Bangladesh, and India’s denial of involvement; the other, published after the address, focuses on her direct quotes, her call to lift the Awami League ban, and her son’s comment on the lack of contact with Dhaka’s government. Only Al Jazeera provides the fuller numerical picture — the 1,400 deaths, 20,000-plus injuries, and 1,500 enforced-disappearance cases — and only Al Jazeera traces the history back to her January audio address and Dhaka’s angry reaction to it.

Why this matters

Hasina’s vow to return sets up a direct confrontation between an exiled leader facing execution and the government that replaced her, at a moment when India and Bangladesh are trying to stabilize ties strained by her ouster. Her continued presence in India, and New Delhi’s reluctance to extradite her while also distancing itself from her public statements, illustrates the delicate balancing act facing the Indian government. Whether she actually returns — and what happens if she does — remains unresolved; no firm date has been set, and Bangladesh’s caretaker-turned-elected government under Tarique Rahman has given no indication it would offer her leniency.

Sources

• Sky News World
• Al Jazeera
• Al Jazeera (2)

Featured photo: Md Joni Hossain via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)