Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is living in exile in India after being sentenced to death in Bangladesh and the banning of her Awami League party, said she and senior party leaders plan to return around December and surrender.
In an exclusive interview with Reuters, the 78-year-old said she and other Awami League leaders want to return voluntarily to the country they fled in 2024 and present themselves in court, testing Bangladesh’s treatment of its most prominent political opponent.
“They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me,” Hasina said in the nearly hour-long telephone interview.
“Still, I have to go,” she said. “My party leaders and workers are being subjected to tremendous repression. If death comes, I want it to come on my own soil, where my parents are buried and where their blood was shed.”
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Hasina fled Bangladesh in 2024 after protests ended her 20 years as prime minister across multiple terms. In November, the country’s war crimes court sentenced her to death in absentia for ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising. She has denied the charges from exile.
A return could deepen political divisions in Bangladesh as the government in Dhaka seeks to restore stability after two years of upheaval. It could also improve strained ties with India, which have worsened since New Delhi gave her refuge.
Hasina, who had previously responded only to written questions from news organisations during her exile, said she had not consulted any foreign government about whether or when to return.
This is the first time she has announced a timeline for her return, said she plans to surrender, or revealed that other exiled Awami League leaders would do the same. Among them is former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who also faces a death sentence.
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“The authorities in Dhaka want to take me back, they are repeatedly sending letters to India seeking to have me sent back,” she said. “I will go myself.”
Spokespeople for the Bangladesh government did not respond to requests for comment on Hasina’s remarks.
India’s foreign ministry also did not respond to a request for comment. In April, the ministry said it was examining Bangladesh’s extradition request and wanted to “engage constructively with the new government and further strengthen bilateral ties.”
Political future
Hasina has been a dominant figure in Bangladeshi politics for decades after entering public life following the assassination of her father, the country’s founding leader, and much of her family in a military coup.
She was credited with helping transform the economy of the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people but faced accusations that her government suppressed dissent and weakened democratic institutions. She has denied those allegations.
A UN report said the crackdown that led to her downfall killed as many as 1,400 people.
“Cases have been filed against almost all of our leaders and workers, and many of them are in hiding,” Hasina told Reuters from her home in exile in Delhi. “So I said that this time I am returning home, and one day, all of you should come. All together, we will all surrender in court.”
She declined to give a specific date for her return or say exactly when she would surrender or before which court.
“I believe in justice and I feel that once proceedings start, it will be clear to the people how farcical the court is — and that I want to prove it.”
Many Awami League workers have faced arrests, legal cases and physical attacks since her government was ousted, according to media reports and government officials.
Hasina said she had not held talks with the authorities in Dhaka about her plans.
“Democracy, voting rights, the political rights of the Awami League and justice are not subjects for secret talks.”
She also said she was not concerned about the prospect of imprisonment, noting that she had been arrested several times before.
Hasina said she fled Bangladesh in 2024 because of threats to her life as crowds advanced toward her residence.
“When a government works for a long time, mistakes can happen, no government is above error,” she said. “But the right to judge the good and bad, the right and wrong of a government belongs to the people. I leave that judgment to the people.”
She said she has held online meetings covering 125 of Bangladesh’s 300 parliamentary constituencies as part of efforts to reorganise the Awami League.
“They may have convicted me, and I may not be able to contest elections,” she said. “But why should they suspend the Awami League? If we have done badly, let the people decide.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
