Guardian calls Hasina ‘disgraced’ as she eyes December return

Sheikh Hasina is confident she will return to Bangladesh in December, according to exiled Awami League leaders, after the former prime minister applied for a new passport and national identity card through a British lawyer this week.

Hasina, who has been living in India since being ousted in August 2024, reportedly sees the documents as a step towards her return despite facing a death sentence for crimes against humanity.

She fled to India after a mass uprising ended her 15-year rule in August 2024. She has since been living in Delhi, where Indian authorities have allowed her to remain.

In November last year, a tribunal in Bangladesh found her guilty of crimes against humanity over the crackdown on the student-led uprising and sentenced her to death. An estimated 1,400 people were killed during the unrest.

Her possible return is likely to create fresh political tensions in Bangladesh, where the Awami League remains banned and thousands of its members are in jail. If she returns, Hasina is likely to face immediate arrest.

Hasina first spoke about the possibility of returning to Bangladesh in August. Several exiled Awami League leaders living in India told The Guardian this week that she was serious about the plan and confident of returning next month. They also said some party figures had already returned in anticipation of her comeback.

On Monday, a British lawyer representing Hasina wrote to the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi, requesting that a new passport and national identity card be issued to her in a timely manner, according to a letter seen by The Guardian.

“The reason our leader Sheikh Hasina has applied for a passport is that she genuinely wants to return,” a Kolkata-based Awami League leader told the newspaper on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorised to speak to the media on the party's behalf.

Hasina has rejected the charges against her and described the tribunal that convicted her as illegitimate.

“She is confident about her return, which is why she has applied for a new passport and a national identity card. If the authorities do not issue her a passport, she will apply for a travel pass to make her return to Bangladesh possible,” the Awami League leader said.

Since Hasina's conviction, the Bangladesh government has repeatedly urged India to extradite the former prime minister. However, New Delhi has so far ignored the requests, adding to tensions between the two countries.

This week, the Bangladesh government said Hasina, whom it described as a “terrorist”, would only be allowed to return through an “acceptable prisoner exchange” under the India-Bangladesh extradition treaty.

Aminul Islam, chief prosecutor of the tribunal that sentenced Hasina, said there was no legal basis for issuing her a new passport because she was a “convicted fugitive”.

He also said Hasina would face execution if she returned, arguing that the deadline for appealing against her conviction had expired.

“Sheikh Hasina has no option but to face the execution of the verdict,” he said.

Despite the allegations of abuses and repression during her 15 years in power and her subsequent conviction for crimes against humanity, Hasina continues to enjoy considerable support among Awami League activists in Bangladesh. Thousands of party members remain in the country, with many reportedly driven underground.

Analysts believe her reported decision to return could be aimed at rebuilding the party's support base and creating political pressure on the newly elected government led by Tarique Rahman. The government came to power in February following Bangladesh's first democratic election in decades.

The administration has since faced challenges over inflation and protests that disrupted garment factory operations, developments the Awami League hopes to use to its political advantage.

Another senior Awami League leader based in India said exiled party figures intended to follow Hasina back to Bangladesh, despite facing criminal charges and lengthy prison sentences handed down in absentia.

“Some of us have been sentenced in absentia by kangaroo courts, and we know we will be jailed. But we are ready to face the consequences and return to our own people. We will fight this politically,” the leader said.

Several senior Awami League figures have returned to Bangladesh in recent months. Former lawmaker Mustaque Ahmed Ruhi, for instance, was arrested immediately after returning in September. He faces prosecution over an alleged murder during the 2024 uprising.

Meanwhile, exiled Awami League leaders have continued to hold meetings in Kolkata, where many are based, and are regularly summoned to Delhi to meet Hasina.

Speaking to the Associated Press by email this week, Hasina said: “If death is my destiny, I would rather die on the soil of my own country, among my own people.”

Source: The Guardian