Key facts
- Sheikh Hasina applied for a fresh passport in the week of November 9, 2026, according to the Guardian.
- Exiled Awami League leaders told the Guardian Hasina is confident of returning to Bangladesh in December.
- A UK lawyer acting for Hasina wrote to the Bangladesh high commission on Monday, November 9, 2026, requesting a new passport and national identity card.
- Bangladesh's government said Hasina would only be allowed to return under an acceptable prisoner exchange.
- The chief prosecutor of the tribunal that sentenced Hasina condemned her return announcement as a political stunt.
- Former MP Mustaque Ahmed Ruhi returned in September 2026 and was arrested by police.
Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh, applied for a fresh passport in the week of November 9, 2026, and exiled members of her Awami League party told the Guardian she is confident of returning to the country in December. Hasina has lived in self-imposed exile since August 2024, when a mass uprising against her rule forced her from power and she fled across the border to India, where she has been allowed to live in Delhi.
On Monday, November 9, 2026, a UK lawyer acting on Hasina's behalf wrote to the Bangladesh high commission requesting a new passport and national identity card be issued in a timely fashion, according to a letter seen by the Guardian. A party leader based in Kolkata, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media on the party's behalf, said Hasina genuinely wants to return. The leader said that if the authorities do not issue her a passport, she will apply for a travel pass to make her return possible.
In November 2025, a tribunal in Bangladesh found Hasina guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to death over her crackdown on a student uprising that left an estimated 1,400 people dead. Hasina has rejected the charges of mass murder and crimes against humanity and said the tribunal that convicted her was illegitimate. The chief prosecutor of the tribunal condemned her announcement to return as nothing but a political stunt.
The Bangladesh government has pressed India to extradite Hasina since her conviction, and the Indian government has ignored the demands, straining ties between the two countries. In the week of November 9, 2026, the Bangladesh government said that as a terrorist, Hasina would only be allowed to return under an acceptable prisoner exchange under the India-Bangladesh extradition treaty. Should she be allowed to return, she is likely to be arrested immediately, the Guardian reported.