Sheikh Hasina says she will return to Bangladesh despite death sentence

DHAKA, Bangladesh, July 10 — Ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said she plans to return to Bangladesh in December despite facing a death sentence imposed during her two years in exile in India.

The 78-year-old former leader told Reuters in an interview published Friday that she would return alongside senior members of her banned Awami League party to challenge legal actions taken against the group.

Hasina, who fled to India after a student-led uprising toppled her government in 2024, said she was prepared to face arrest or even death upon her return.

"They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me. Still, I have to go. If death comes, I want it to come on my own soil," she said in a telephone interview from New Delhi.

She called on other exiled Awami League leaders, including former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, who is also facing a death sentence, to return with her.

"All together, we will surrender in court," Hasina said, dismissing the legal proceedings against her and her party as "farcical."

Bangladesh's interim authorities have signalled they will not soften their stance toward the former premier, maintaining the legal cases and death sentences issued against her and several senior allies.

Hasina served as Bangladesh's prime minister for nearly two decades across multiple terms, overseeing rapid economic growth and the expansion of the country's garment industry. However, her rule also drew widespread criticism from opponents and rights groups, who accused her government of authoritarianism and suppressing political dissent.

Her planned return is expected to test Bangladesh's fragile political stability and could also affect relations with India, which has hosted her since she fled the country in 2024.

GAROWE ONLINE