A Bangladeshi prosecutor has warned that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina will be executed if she returns home. Md Aminul Islam made the remarks on Tuesday, after prosecutors secured a death sentence against the ousted leader.
Hasina’s 15-year rule ended in a mass uprising that she had tried to crush. She has said she plans to return to Bangladesh in December, where she was convicted of crimes against humanity over the 2024 crackdown on protesters. Islam was responding to reports that she intended to come back from self-imposed exile in neighbouring India.
Hasina misses appeal deadline, prosecutor says
Islam told reporters that the 79-year-old fugitive had missed the deadline to appeal her conviction, leaving her with no further legal options. “The statutory appeal period has expired, and no appeal can now be filed,” he said.
Also read: Sheikh Hasina seeks new passport in move toward Bangladesh return
He added that she had little alternative but to accept the verdict. Islam did not say when any further legal steps might be taken, and he gave no other timeline.
Hasina’s economic legacy and rights criticism
Hasina is the daughter of a revolutionary who led Bangladesh to independence in 1971. During her time in power, the country of 170 million people moved from a mostly farm-based economy to a major global manufacturing hub, with rapid growth.
Critics, however, accuse her of jailing political rivals, enacting harsh laws against the press and overseeing widespread human rights abuses, including the killing of opposition activists. According to the United Nations, her 2024 crackdown left up to 1,400 people dead.
Hasina fled to India by helicopter in August 2024 as angry crowds stormed her palace. She has stayed there since, largely out of public view. She has occasionally addressed news conferences by telephone, and her voice has sounded frail.
In comments to AFP, Hasina said she is “fully aware” that she could be hanged if she returns. She said “fear cannot decide” her “duty to the people”.
Extradition request and trial in absentia
Hasina defied a court order to return and attend her trial last year. The case examined whether she bore command responsibility for the bloody crackdown on the student-led uprising. Witnesses included a man whose face was torn apart by a gunshot. Assigned a state-appointed lawyer, Hasina called the trial a “jurisprudential joke”.
In November 2025, a court in Dhaka sentenced her to death in absentia. It found her guilty on three counts of crimes against humanity, including incitement, ordering killings and failing to prevent atrocities. She also faces a string of other cases, including corruption charges.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry has sought her extradition from India, which says the request is under legal review. Her continued presence there has strained relations between the two neighbours.
This week, Hasina’s lawyers asked for her passport to be renewed, without saying where or when she wished to travel. Islam warned that the passport authority “may refuse to issue a passport” to anyone found guilty of serious crimes. He suggested that if Hasina genuinely wanted to return, she should write to Indian authorities and seek help under the extradition treaty.
Political tension and petrol bomb arrests
Hasina’s pledge presents a political challenge for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government. Many Bangladeshis want to see her hanged, while others fear her return could energise her former supporters and spark a fresh confrontation between rival camps.
On Monday, police said they had arrested 12 people over a series of petrol bomb attacks this month. The attacks targeted property, an empty bus and police vehicles, and none caused casualties. Dhaka police spokesman Md Akhtar Hossain said the suspects were members of Hasina’s banned Awami League party.
