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Hasina vows December return
Ousted former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Wednesday that she plans to return from exile in India in December despite facing a death sentence in Bangladesh over a bloody crackdown on protesters in 2024.
“Hasina said Wednesday that she plans to return to her country from exile in India in December”
In an audio address at an event in New Delhi marking the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled her government, Hasina told journalists, "I know that they may put me in jail, or they may kill me, or anything may happen, but still I have to go back," and added, "Fear cannot decide my duty to the people."
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said it was "outraged" by Hasina being allowed to participate in the event on Indian soil, calling it "an affront to the sovereignty of Bangladesh," and renewed its demands for India to extradite her.
The UN estimates the violence killed about 1,400 people, and Hasina’s speech came as she marked the second anniversary of the uprising that led to her flight to India in 2024.
India earlier distanced itself from the news conference, saying it had no role in organising it and would not endorse any political views voiced, while Hasina said she was ready to face whatever fate awaited her in Bangladesh.
Dhaka calls it an insult
Bangladesh reacted sharply after Hasina’s address, with the country saying it was "outraged" by her open engagement with the media in New Delhi where "she and her henchmen launched venomous vitriol against the State of Bangladesh and her people."
In the same response, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the event was detrimental to ties between Bangladesh and India and questioned its timing, framing Hasina’s appearance as a "grievous insult to the martyrs of the July Revolution."
Hasina, 78, delivered her message from New Delhi’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia, describing her planned return as duty and telling journalists, "I know I may be detained, I may be sent to prison," and "They may try to enforce verdicts issued in fabricated cases."
Al Jazeera reported that protesters in Dhaka burned her effigy as Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government expressed "outrage" over New Delhi allowing the event, warning it could further strain diplomatic ties.
The BBC and Reuters coverage of the wider political aftermath also pointed to the diplomatic friction around Hasina’s first media appearance since fleeing Bangladesh in 2024, with India saying it would not endorse political views voiced.
What’s at stake next
Hasina’s return pledge is tied to the legal and political stakes in Bangladesh, where a Bangladeshi court sentenced her to death in 2025 on charges of crimes against humanity for ordering a crackdown on the uprising.
“"Allowing her the opportunity to openly interact with the media under any pretext is deeply hurtful"”
The UN estimates nearly 1,400 people were killed in the crackdown, and Hasina said she would call for the ban on her Awami League party to be lifted and for political prisoners to be released as she pressed her case from New Delhi.
Bangladesh’s foreign ministry said allowing Hasina to speak to the press was "deeply hurtful" and that Bangladesh was "outraged," while it also said the event was an insult to the country’s sovereignty.
In New Delhi, Hasina said she would share the exact date and details of her return at a later time, and she told journalists, "I have decided to be with my people in December."
The diplomatic and domestic consequences are already visible in the way Bangladesh and India have handled the event, with India saying it had received Bangladesh’s extradition request and was reviewing it, while Bangladesh renewed its demands for extradition and warned local media not to publish her remarks.
