Ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina will face prison in Bangladesh upon her return from India, a minister in her country has claimed.
Ms Hasina said this week that she and members of the now-outlawed Awami League party planned to return to Dhaka in December and surrender to the authorities, more than two years after fleeing Bangladesh at the height of a bloody anti-government protest.
The longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh fled the country in August 2024 and has been living in New Delhi close to the corridors of power, where she is treated like "any head of the state", her son had previously told The Independent.
Ms Hasina, 78, faces a death sentence and her party has been banned following the monsoon protest, which saw the death of at least 1,400 people, according to the UN.
"Sheikh Hasina is a convicted criminal. If she surrenders, action will be taken against her as per the laws of Bangladesh," Shama Obaed Islam, Bangladesh's state minister for foreign affairs, told reporters.
"She will have to go to jail and further proceedings will follow as per the provisions of the law."
The country's war crimes tribunal sentenced Ms Hasina to death in absentia in November for ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising. She has denied the charges from exile.
Bangladesh has asked India to extradite Ms Hasina, and New Delhi said in April it was examining the request and that it wanted to "engage constructively with the new government and further strengthen bilateral ties". India's earlier reluctance to engage with Bangladesh over Ms Hasina's extradition had frayed ties between Dhaka and New Delhi and opened the window for China to expand its influence in Bangladesh.
Ms Hasina told Reuters last week that she wished to return to Bangladesh by the end of the year along with her Awami League colleagues, who have been mostly living in exile in India, the UK and the Middle East.
"Cases have been filed against almost all of our leaders and workers, and many of them are in hiding," Ms Hasina said. "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."
"They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me," she said, adding, "Still, I have to go."
"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."
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."
Ms Hasina added that she has held online meetings covering 125 of Bangladesh's 300 parliamentary constituencies as part of efforts to reorganise the Awami League. Bangladesh had repeatedly raised objections with New Delhi about Ms Hasina mobilising party cadres ahead of the general elections held in February.
Bangladesh is now governed by Tarique Rahman, who became prime minister following the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's sweeping victory in the first elections held in February after almost two years of political and economic turmoil.
