As proclaimed, ousted Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina will seemingly return to Dhaka by December. However, a number of challenges are also waiting to greet the septuagenarian politician in the South Asian nation. In several media interviews, the Awami League supremo has accused the current government in Dhaka of conducting mass raids, arrests and torture of ordinary people to create an atmosphere of terror, alleging that extrajudicial killings and human rights violations have become the norm. An Awami League statement has even claimed that around 5,000 Bangladeshi nationals are being arrested by government machinery every day. Lately, Hasina has reportedly approached United Nations representatives, seeking urgent intervention to ensure the political rights of Bangladeshi citizens.
A Muslim-majority nation of over 170 million people, Bangladesh frequently remains in the media spotlight for the wrong reasons. The country is known for street demonstrations almost every week in Dhaka and other cities. Bordering India and Myanmar, Bangladesh also attracts global attention for its regular pronouncements of capital punishment and the execution of convicts. The latest death sentence was handed down on October 29, 2026, when an associate of Hasina was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity committed during the July-August 2024 mass agitation in the country.
Hasina, who was ousted following the same mass uprising two years ago and is currently taking unofficial shelter in India, faced a similar verdict in November 2025. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), which has no international jurisdiction as all its judges are Bangladeshi nationals and its jurisdiction is confined to Bangladesh, convicted Hasina, the Awami League chief, and the then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal for the crackdown on agitators. According to a panel endorsed by the United Nations, more than 1,400 people were killed and 25,000 injured, including many young people, during the nationwide movement in 2024.
The Dhaka-based ICT recently awarded a death sentence to Awami League joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif for crimes against humanity, including the killing of six agitators in the Kushtia area during the mass uprising. The three-member tribunal, headed by Justice Nozrul Islam Chowdhury, also sentenced Sadar Uddin Khan, former Awami League district president; Azgar Ali, the party’s district general secretary; and Ataur Rahman Ata, a district-level Awami League leader, to life imprisonment. Interestingly, all four convicts are currently absconding. Hanif is accused of participating in government decisions to suppress the uprising through lethal methods. He allegedly instructed the district police chief and party activists over telephone conversations to carry out the killings.
Earlier, death sentences were handed down to Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader, along with Bahauddin Nasim, Mohammad Ali Arafat, Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash and Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil. Two Chhatra League leaders, Saddam Hossain and Sheikh Wali Asif Enan, were also convicted in the September 15 order for allegedly orchestrating mass killings during the youth-led uprising. The tribunal also ordered the seizure of 50 per cent of the personal properties belonging to Quader, Nasim, Arafat, Parash and Nikhil. The confiscated wealth, amounting to a cumulative Tk 500 million, is expected to be used to compensate families affected by the demonstrations.
Amazingly, all the death-row convicts were tried in absentia as they remain fugitives, and a large section of Bangladeshi nationals believe they are secretly taking shelter in India. The traumatised families welcomed the verdicts and urged the Tarique Rahman-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government in Dhaka to bring back all the convicts for execution. The families of the victims still remember how a student-led anti-Hasina movement engulfed the country and how, despite a violent crackdown, the government failed to survive. Even after ruling the country for 15 consecutive years, Hasina was overthrown and compelled to flee on August 5, 2024, seeking temporary shelter in New Delhi.
Following in the footsteps of the Professor Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, the current government has also continued its efforts to bring Hasina back to Dhaka to face trial, despite New Delhi’s sustained reluctance. Rahman, who became Bangladesh’s prime minister following the 13th national election held on February 12 this year, has repeatedly called for Hasina’s extradition under the 2013 extradition treaty between the two neighbouring countries. Dhaka has used various diplomatic channels to press for her repatriation. A few weeks ago, New Delhi stated that it was examining the matter in the context of relevant laws.
Meanwhile, the brave daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, while addressing an audio-live press briefing in New Delhi on August 5, vowed to return to her country. She reiterated her intention to voluntarily return to Bangladesh in subsequent public communications, drawing considerable attention from the global media. The Rahman government, meanwhile, has restricted Bangladeshi media coverage of such developments. A section of Dhaka administration officials has claimed that Hasina would be repatriated, with no possibility of her returning on her own.
They have also asserted that once Hasina reaches Bangladesh, she will be executed, as she has already lost the opportunity to appeal against the ICT verdict after the expiry of the 30-day deadline. In effect, they want to bring Hasina into custody and compel her to face the legal process in Bangladesh. The Hasina factor has seemingly prevented Rahman from making his first official overseas visit to India. Instead, he chose Malaysia and China. Rahman is still delaying a visit to India, even though New Delhi has extended invitations multiple times. He also avoided attending the 18th BRICS outreach session in New Delhi on September 12-13, despite Bangladesh holding the current chair of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), ostensibly because of Hasina’s presence in India.