Dhaka (AFP) – Execution and nothing else: the prosecutor of the court which sentenced the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh in exile Sheikh Hasina to death for crimes against humanity estimated Tuesday that she could not escape the sentence if she decided to return to her country.
Published on: 10/11/2026 - 10:20
“Sheikh Hasina has no choice but to carry out her sentence,” prosecutor Muhammad Aminul Islam told the press on Tuesday, adding that the time limit she had to appeal had expired.
“An appeal must be filed within thirty days after the judgment,” recalled the magistrate, “no appeal can anymore be filed.”
In power since 2009, Ms. Hasina, now 79 years old, fled her country in August 2024 after several weeks of bloodily repressed anti-government riots.
According to the UN, these unrest caused at least 1,400 deaths, mostly civilians.
In exile in India, the one whom her compatriots nicknamed the “iron begum” for her autocratic practices was sentenced in November 2025 by a Dhaka court to the death penalty for having ordered the police to open fire on demonstrators.
Ms. Hasina vigorously denied these accusations and rejected a verdict in her eyes "politically motivated" described as a "judicial joke".
During interviews given to the press in recent months, the former head of government announced her intention to return to Bangladesh in December, despite the verdict handed down by her country's courts.
“I can be arrested, I can be sent to prison. But fear cannot dictate my duty to the people,” she said in August.
His British lawyers sent a letter to the Bangladeshi embassy in London on Monday, which AFP has seen, to request the renewal of his passport, "presented as cancelled" upon his conviction.
Extradition
Bangladeshi Interior Minister Salahuddin Ahmed immediately indicated to journalists that his country was studying "the legal basis of the request".
Mr. Salahuddin also recalled that Bangladesh had sent a formal request for Sheikh Hasina's extradition to Indian authorities, which said last month that it was "under consideration".
“The government is legally entitled to refuse her passport” because of her conviction, prosecutor Md Aminul Islam said on Tuesday, “if Sheikh Hasina really wants to return to Bangladesh, the normal route is the extradition procedure”.
The prospect of a return of Ms. Hasina, who still has supporters in Bangladesh, fuels fears of unrest in the government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, in power since the legislative elections last February.
Police announced Monday that they had arrested 12 supporters of the former Prime Minister, accused of having thrown Molotov cocktails at police vehicles, university buildings and buses in recent days in the capital Dhaka.
“They are trying to create panic among the population,” police spokesperson Md Akhtar Hossain told AFP.
Ms. Hasina's party, the Awami League (People's League), was declared outlawed and was unable to participate in the last legislative elections.
Several of its fugitive leaders have been sentenced in absentia in recent months by the courts, including some to the death penalty.
In addition to her death sentence for suppressing riots two years ago, Ms. Hasina is being prosecuted in other cases, including corruption.
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© 2026 AFP
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