Ousted PM Sheikh Hasina plans Bangladesh return: ‘I may be killed, I may be sent to prison’

Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday said she was determined to return to her country by December despite facing the possibility of arrest, imprisonment or even execution.The 78-year-old former leader, who has been living in New Delhi since fleeing Bangladesh in August 2024, said she was prepared to face the consequences of returning home.“I may be killed. I may be arrested. I may be sent to prison,” Hasina said in an email response to questions by AFP.“I am fully aware of my fate. Still, I want to go back because my people are calling me,” she added.Earlier this month, Hasina had also told Reuters that she and her political allies would return from exile and face the courts in Bangladesh.“My party leaders and workers are being subjected to tremendous repression,” she had told Reuters. “If death comes, I want it to come on my own soil, where my parents are buried and where their blood was shed,” she added.Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia by Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal over her government’s handling of the 2024 student-led protests that ultimately ended her 15-year rule.The protests began as demonstrations against the country’s government job quota system but quickly evolved into a nationwide anti-government movement after security forces launched a crackdown on protesters. Thousands were injured, while many were detained during the months-long protests.As the demonstrations intensified and spread across the country, Hasina resigned and fled in August 2024, ending her tenure as prime minister.Following the change in government, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal initiated multiple cases against Hasina and several of her former ministers over allegations of crimes against humanity linked to the crackdown.Her Awami League has since been banned from political activities, while several senior party leaders have been arrested or are facing legal proceedings.Earlier this year, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Tarique Rahman was sworn in as the country’s new prime minister. He became the first elected male premier after decades of politics dominated by Sheikh Hasina and his mother, former prime minister Khaleda Zia, a long-running rivalry often described as the “battle of the begums.”