The political and legal dispute over the sentence and banishment of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has continued with the Home Minister of Bangladesh, Salahuddin Ahmed, saying the government desires her return to the country through “legal procedures”.
Addressing the reporters on Thursday, Ahmed said the government would allow Hasina to return through proper judicial and diplomatic avenues. He told the commissioner that he wasn’t aware of any specific law that would bar her from returning if she wanted to return to Bangladesh.
After the Awami League government was toppled by a huge student uprising, Sheikh Hasina has been residing in India since August 2024. That interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus went on to ban the Awami League by an executive order and launched a legal case against Hasina before the reconstituted International Crimes Tribunal.
Hasina was sentenced to death in November 2025 by the tribunal in absentia, but her supporters and a few political observers criticized the ruling. The decision to ban the Awami League has been taken by the interim government which has been endorsed by the ongoing government led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman from the BNP.
Zahedur Rahman, government adviser, recently clarified that if Hasina returned, then no “extra-judicial measures” would be taken against her, but she will have to step down before the judiciary as well as face the pending cases against her.
Hasina said that she was expecting to reach Bangladesh “very soon” and planned to continue the leadership of Awami League from abroad in recent interviews to Indian media. She also condemned the current political leadership of Bangladesh for democratic regression and instilling anti-India sentiments in the public.