OUSTED former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said she will return to the country this year despite being sentenced to death in absentia. Calling the ruling "illegal, unconstitutional and politically motivated", she said she would overcome "every obstacle and every conspiracy" to return home.
Hasina, 78, fled to India after a student-led uprising removed her government in August 2024. In an interview with Indian broadcaster NDTV, she said the death sentence would not stop her from returning to Bangladesh.
“I want to say clearly: overcoming every obstacle and every conspiracy, I will return to my country this year,” Hasina said when asked whether she would come back despite the death sentence. It was the first time she had set a timeframe for her return.
Last November, a Dhaka court sentenced Hasina to death after convicting her of inciting and ordering killings, and failing to prevent atrocities during the 2024 unrest.
Rejecting the verdict, she accused Bangladesh’s judiciary of being used as “an instrument of political revenge” aimed at eliminating her Awami League party’s leadership.
“I do not fear death,” she said, adding that past efforts to dismantle her party had failed and would fail again.
Hasina said her planned return was not driven by personal ambition but by what she described as a broader mission to restore political rights, democracy, the rule of law and the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War.
Defending her Awami League party, she said it remained deeply rooted in Bangladesh despite a ban on its activities. The restrictions, first imposed by the previous interim administration, remain in place under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government, which took office after February's elections.
“The Awami League is not a paper organisation but a political force rooted in the soil of Bengal, in the people of Bengal, in the history of Bengal and in the identity of the Bengali nation,” Hasina said.
She also urged the Tarique Rahman-led government to restore what she called a proper democratic environment by lifting the ban on her party, withdrawing what she described as false cases against its leaders, releasing political prisoners and allowing peaceful political activity.
The government has defended the legal proceedings, saying they are part of efforts to ensure accountability for alleged crimes committed during the final months of Hasina's administration.
