Ousted Bangladesh Leader Plans December Return to Surrender

The 78-year-old leader, who fled the country in 2024 after protests ended her 20-year tenure, spoke in a nearly hour-long telephone interview late Thursday and into Friday. “They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me,” she said. “Still, I have to go.”

A Bangladesh war-crimes court sentenced her in November in her absence for ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising that killed as many as 1,400 people, according to a U.N. report. She has denied the charges. Hasina said she has not been in touch with officials in Dhaka over her planned return and declined to give a date or name the court where she would surrender.

“I believe in justice and I feel that once proceedings start, it will be clear to the people how farcical the court is — and that I want to prove it,” she said.

The government in Dhaka has banned her party and repeatedly urged India to extradite her. She said authorities there have sent letters seeking her return. Hasina said many party members face arrest, legal cases and physical attacks, and that she wants the ban lifted. She added that she and the other exiled leaders would surrender together.

““My party leaders and workers are being subjected to tremendous repression. If death comes, I want it to come on my own soil, where my parents are buried and where their blood was shed.””

Spokespeople for the Bangladesh government and India’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.