Hasina Says She Will Return to Bangladesh Despite Death Sentence
In her first public remarks since fleeing in 2024, the former prime minister called the verdict against her fabricated and named December as her return.
Ousted Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina says she intends to return home in December, despite a death sentence handed down in her absence while she has been living in exile in India.
In her first public remarks since fleeing by helicopter in 2024, Hasina delivered an audio address to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of South Asia in New Delhi. "Whatever fate awaits me, I will return to my people," she said. Her son, Sajeeb Wazed, joined the event by video from Washington. "I may be detained, I may be sent to prison, they may try to enforce verdicts issued in fabricated cases, but fear cannot decide my duty to the people," she said.
The 78-year-old served five terms as prime minister before weeks of protests drove her from office. The United Nations has said nearly 1,400 people were killed during that period. Hasina denies wrongdoing and blames the protesters, describing the events as "a coordinated assault on the constitutional order, driven by hidden instruction, organized violence and propaganda," and saying her government tried to resolve the crisis peacefully.
Critics reject that account outright. Ali Riaz, a professor of political science at Illinois State University, called the uprising a response to Hasina's "decades-long draconian rule" and pointed to the U.N. finding that state forces were used against civilians. "Killing 1,400 people in less than three weeks demonstrates the ferocity of the actions taken by her government and under her direct instruction," he said.
A conviction that still stands
Her Awami League party was banned after she left. In 2025 a Dhaka tribunal convicted her in absentia on charges including crimes against humanity over the crackdown and sentenced her to death. Hasina calls the verdict legally void. Riaz said a return would trigger immediate legal action, since the conviction stands and authorities would be obliged to detain her.
The New Delhi appearance has strained relations between the two countries. India's Ministry of External Affairs said it had no role in organizing the press conference. Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry said Dhaka "deeply regrets" that the event went ahead in India over its objections. India has said it wants to restore ties with Dhaka, but Hasina's exile and her public appeals keep getting in the way.
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