Hasina plans December return to Bangladesh from exile

Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's ousted prime minister, has applied for a new passport and plans to return from exile in India in December, exiled leaders of her Awami League told The Guardian, a year after a Dhaka tribunal sentenced her to death for crimes against humanity.

Why it matters: A return would put a former prime minister under a death sentence back in front of the government that replaced her, testing the new administration in Dhaka and the extradition dispute that has strained its ties with India.

Data as of The Guardian report of November 10, 2026, read in full via the estate browser route; single outlet, with Hasina's own comment as quoted to the Associated Press by email and carried in the same report. The tribunal's verdict and the government's position are as reported there and have not been independently corroborated in this run. Developing item.

Sheikh Hasina has applied for a fresh passport and plans to return to Bangladesh in December after two years of self-imposed exile in India, exiled leaders of her banned Awami League told The Guardian, and a UK lawyer acting for her wrote to the Bangladesh high commission on Monday asking for a new passport and national identity card. Hasina, who fled a mass uprising in August 2024 after 15 years in power, told the Associated Press by email that she had affirmed the decision: “If death is my destiny, I would rather die on the soil of my own country, among my own people.” A Bangladeshi tribunal sentenced her to death last November for crimes against humanity over a crackdown on student protests that killed an estimated 1,400 people, a verdict she rejects, and Dhaka’s government said this week she could return only under an acceptable prisoner exchange with India, while the tribunal’s chief prosecutor called the plan a political stunt.

Hasina plans December return to Bangladesh from exile

Sources