Bangladesh prosecutor says ex-PM Sheikh Hasina will be executed if she returns

The Bangladeshi prosecutor who secured the death sentence against ousted leader Sheikh Hasina said on Tuesday she will be executed if she returns home.

Hasina, whose 15-year rule was ended by a mass uprising she tried to crush, has vowed to return in December to Bangladesh, where she was convicted of crimes against humanity over the 2024 crackdown on protesters.

“Sheikh Hasina has no option but to face the execution of the verdict,” Md Aminul Islam told reporters, responding to reports she planned to return from self-imposed exile in neighbouring India.

He added that the 79-year-old fugitive had missed the deadline to appeal against her conviction, leaving her with no further legal recourse.

“The statutory appeal period has expired and no appeal can now be filed,” he said.

The daughter of a revolutionary who led Bangladesh to independence in 1971, Hasina presided over breakneck economic growth, helping transform the South Asian nation of 170 million people from a largely agricultural economy into a global manufacturing hub.

Critics have accused Hasina of jailing political rivals, enacting harsh anti-press laws and overseeing widespread human rights abuses, including the killing of opposition activists.

Her 2024 crackdown left up to 1,400 people dead, according to the United Nations.

She fled to neighbouring India by helicopter in August 2024 as angry crowds stormed her palace.

She has remained there ever since, hidden from public view. Only occasionally has she addressed news conferences by telephone, her voice sounding frail.

Hasina has repeatedly said she intends to return to Bangladesh in December, telling AFP she is “fully aware” she faces being hanged if she returns.

She said “fear cannot decide” her “duty to the people”.

Extradition process

Hasina defied orders from the court to return to Bangladesh to attend her trial last year on whether she bore command responsibility for the bloody crackdown on the student-led uprising.

Witnesses included a man whose face was ripped apart by a gunshot.

Hasina, who was assigned a state-appointed lawyer, called the trial a “jurisprudential joke”.

In November 2025, a court in Dhaka sentenced her to death in absentia after finding her guilty on three counts of crimes against humanity, including incitement, ordering killings and failing to prevent atrocities.

Bangladesh’s foreign ministry has sought her extradition from India, which says the request is under legal review.

Her continued presence there has strained relations between the neighbouring countries.

She also faces a string of other cases, including corruption charges.

Hasina’s lawyers this week requested to renew her passport, without saying where or when she wished to travel.

Islam said the passport authority “may refuse to issue a passport” to anyone found guilty of serious crimes.

“Our advice to Sheikh Hasina would be, if you genuinely wish to return to Bangladesh, you should write to the Indian authorities and seek to facilitate your return under the extradition treaty,” he said.

Hasina’s pledge to return presents a political challenge for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government.

Many Bangladeshis want to see her hanged, while others fear her return could galvanise her former supporters and trigger a fresh confrontation between rival camps.

Police on Monday said they had arrested 12 people for a series of petrol bomb attacks, including against property, an empty bus and police vehicles this month. None of the attacks resulted in casualties.

Dhaka police spokesman Md Akhtar Hossain said the suspects were members of Hasina’s banned Awami League party.