Hasina says she will return to Bangladesh in December despite death sentence

Hasina answered questions by email, the Associated Press said, receiving her reply on Wednesday. "If death is my destiny, I would rather die on the soil of my own country, among my own people," she said. She did not say how she would travel from India, where she has lived since August 2024.

She said she expects to be arrested. "I know that I may be arrested when I return. I may be imprisoned, tortured or even killed," she said. "I am fully aware of those possibilities. But I cannot spend the rest of my life watching my people suffer from a distance."

The sentence she would return to

The International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka sentenced Hasina to death on 17 November 2025, concluding a months-long trial that found she ordered the deadly crackdown on the student-led uprising in July and August 2024. The court gave her a life sentence on crimes against humanity charges and death for the killing of several people during the protests. She was tried in absentia.

Former interior minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was also sentenced to death. A former police chief received five years after he became a state witness against Hasina and pleaded guilty. The verdict can be appealed in the Supreme Court, but Hasina's son and adviser, Sajeeb Wazed, told Reuters the family would not appeal unless a democratically elected government took office with the Awami League taking part.

Hasina called the tribunal "rigged" and said it was established by an unelected government with no democratic mandate. A United Nations report estimated that up to 1,400 people were killed between 15 July and 5 August 2024, most of them by gunfire from security forces.

Extradition and the party ban

Bangladesh has repeatedly asked India to hand her over and says a 2013 extradition treaty between the two countries covers her case. India has declined. Junior foreign minister Humaiun Kobir said Dhaka wants her transferred. "She is a terrorist. She is a fugitive," he said, according to the United News of Bangladesh agency.

Her party remains banned. The Awami League was barred from contesting the February 2026 election, which Tarique Rahman, son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, won in a landslide under an interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus. Senior party leaders have been arrested or driven into exile.

Hasina alleges that at least 20,000 party members have been killed since August 2024 and that thousands more have been arrested, tortured or forced into hiding. The AP said the figures have not been independently established. The government says arrests involve specific charges and denies widespread abuses. Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have criticised Rahman's government over restrictions on civil and political rights.

What happens next

Hasina was prime minister from 2009 to 2024. She first announced in August that she intended to return in December and has said she will give the date, time and point of entry later. She told the AP she is not seeking protection from any foreign power. "I do not need the blessing of a foreign power to return to my own country," she said.