Ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has asked for a new Bangladeshi passport and national identity card so she can return from self-imposed exile in India, according to a letter seen by Reuters. It is her first such communication since she fled in 2024.
The request is the clearest step yet toward her plan to return to Bangladesh in December, more than two years after a deadly student-led uprising ended her long rule. It raises the prospect of fresh political and legal tensions in a country where her Awami League party is now banned.
Hasina has told Reuters she plans to return to surrender before a court, and her aides said on Monday the date would be announced once formalities were completed.
Bangladesh’s war-crimes court sentenced her to death in her absence in November last year for ordering a deadly crackdown on the student-led uprising. She has denied the charges from exile.
Her lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers wrote to Preeti Rahman, acting high commissioner at Bangladesh’s embassy in Delhi, asking for the applications to be processed “expeditiously” on the basis of her Bangladeshi nationality and obligations under international human rights instruments.
Rahman in Delhi and spokespeople for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters.
The Awami League was the country’s largest party before it was banned after her fall, and many of her colleagues have been jailed or are in self-imposed exile in India or elsewhere. Hasina ruled Bangladesh for 20 years as prime minister across multiple terms. Reuters notes a return could sharpen political divisions as Dhaka seeks stability after more than two years of upheaval, and could improve strained ties with India, which deteriorated after New Delhi gave her refuge.
Source: Reuters
