Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she intends to return from India in December 2026, a plan that would bring her into a country where officials say she faces immediate arrest.
Hasina made the remarks by video at an Oct. 19 event in Washington, where an India Today reporter questioned her. She said she was not afraid, though she acknowledged she could be killed, arrested or tortured if she returned, then added, “It’s my responsibility to go.” She gave no arrival date.
Her December timetable predates the event. In a July 10 interview with Reuters, Hasina said she and senior Awami League colleagues planned to return around December and appear in court. On July 14, Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman told parliament that her conviction left her no option to surrender under current law. He said authorities would arrest her upon entry.
The International Crimes Tribunal, a domestic Bangladeshi court, convicted Hasina of crimes against humanity tied to the 2024 protest crackdown and sentenced her to death in absentia on Nov. 17, 2025. Hasina denies the charges. Human Rights Watch says the abuses require accountability but has questioned whether her trial was fair.
The U.N. Human Rights Office put the possible death toll between July 1 and Aug. 15, 2024, at up to 1,400. Its inquiry linked the protests to public-service job quotas and wider grievances over governance and inequality. It recorded serious violations by Hasina’s former government, security forces and violent Awami League affiliates, as well as revenge attacks on party supporters and others.
Hasina has lived in India since leaving Bangladesh after her government fell in August 2024. Bangladesh’s government says it is seeking justice for people killed and injured during the uprising. Hasina says returning would allow her to challenge the cases against her and restrictions on the Awami League.
