Bangladesh challenges ousted PM Hasina over return pledge

DHAKA – Bangladesh challenged on Nov 9 ousted leader Sheikh Hasina to seek extradition from India if she was serious about returning home, while reviewing an application to renew her passport.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 sentenced to death for crimes against humanity over the 2024 crackdown on protesters.Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters on Nov 9 that the authorities were looking into Hasina’s request for a new passport, adding that she was a convicted offender who had taken refuge abroad.“The legal basis of the application, whether it followed due process, and whether there is a right to apply for a passport – all those matters are being reviewed,” he said.“We had already sent a letter to that country (India) seeking her extradition through due process,” he added.Hasina has said several times she intends to return, telling AFP in an e-mail that she was “fully aware” she faced being hanged.Hasina’s British lawyers have requested to renew her documents after the “reported revocation” of her passport.A letter by law firm Matrix Chambers, addressed to Bangladesh’s high commission in New Delhi and seen by AFP, requested her passport renewal – but made no mention of when, or where, she planned to travel.Md Aminul Islam, chief prosecutor of the court that sentenced Hasina to death in November 2025, dismissed the application as “nothing but political stunt”.Humaiun Kobir, Bangladesh’s junior foreign minister, said she should simply surrender herself to face justice.“Let her tell India: ‘Yes, there is an extradition treaty. Please hand me over. I killed this many people, and I am ready to face the sentence. Please execute me there’,” he told reporters.“She is a thief, a bandit and a terrorist who fled... How could she, having fled, want to come back?“‘Trying to create panic’Hasina fled to old ally India in 2024, and has not been seen in public since but has taken part in online news conferences by telephone.She was convicted and sentenced in absentia.Her continued presence in India has strained ties between Dhaka and New Delhi, which says the extradition request is under legal review.The government of Tarique Rahman, whose party won elections in February in which Hasina’s Awami League was barred from contesting, has said it would ensure the former prime minister receives due legal process in all cases against her should she return.But Hasina’s pledge to return presents a political challenge for 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.The police on Nov 9 said they had arrested 12 people for a series of petrol bomb attacks, including against property, an empty bus and police vehicles this month, without causing any casualties.Dhaka police spokesman Md Akhtar Hossain said the suspects were members of Hasina’s banned Awami League party.“They are trying to create panic among people,” he told AFP. “We are remaining vigilant to deal with any untoward situation.” AFP