Sheikh Hasina says she plans to return to Bangladesh by December and surrender
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Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said she plans to return to Bangladesh by December and surrender before the courts, despite facing a death sentence and the possibility of arrest.
In an interview with Reuters, Hasina, who has been living in exile in India since 2024, said she and senior leaders of the Awami League would return voluntarily.
"They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me. Still, I have to go," the 78-year-old 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."
Hasina fled Bangladesh in 2024 after protests ended her two-decade tenure as prime minister across multiple terms. In November, Bangladesh's war crimes tribunal sentenced her to death in absentia over the crackdown on a student-led uprising. She has denied the charges.
She said she had not consulted any foreign government about her plans to return and added that Bangladesh had repeatedly sought her extradition from India.
"I will go myself," she said.
Hasina said several Awami League leaders, including former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who also faces a death sentence, intend to surrender along with her.
She accused the Bangladeshi authorities of targeting Awami League leaders and workers through arrests and legal cases, and said she wanted to expose what she described as a flawed judicial process.
"I believe in justice, and I feel that once proceedings start, it will be clear to the people how farcical the court is," she said.
Hasina also said she has been holding online meetings to reorganise the Awami League and argued that the party's future should be decided by voters.
"If we have done badly, let the people decide," she said.