Bangladesh's former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said she and other exiled leaders of the Awami League plan to return to Bangladesh voluntarily around December, despite the possibility of being arrested or even killed upon arrival.
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Hasina, 78, who fled to India after a student-led uprising forced her from power in August 2024, said she intended to surrender before the courts on her return. She added that there had been no contact with authorities in Dhaka regarding the planned return.
"They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me," Hasina told Reuters. "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."
Her announcement comes months after Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal sentenced her to death after convicting her of crimes against humanity linked to the government's crackdown on the 2024 student-led protests that eventually brought down her Awami League administration. The tribunal held Hasina responsible for ordering, or failing to prevent, the killings of protesters during the unrest.
The court also sentenced former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death and handed former inspector general of police Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun a five-year prison term. It further ordered the confiscation of properties belonging to Hasina and Kamal.
