Ousted Bangladeshi leader seeks new passport to end two-year exile
Sheikh Hasina’s legal team requested documentation from the mission in New Delhi after the government rejected her return under current extradition procedures.
By Naomi Tesfaye ·
Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked for a new passport on Monday to facilitate her return from exile. This request comes two years after she was removed from power during a mass uprising in Bangladesh.
The current government has previously sought her extradition from India. Officials dismissed earlier suggestions that she required new identification documents to re-enter the country. Hasina told The Associated Press in an interview this month that she intends to return to Bangladesh in December at any cost.
A letter emailed to Bangladesh's diplomatic mission in New Delhi by her London-based law firm, Matrix Chambers, urged the top diplomat to process the application quickly. The firm cited Hasina's Bangladeshi nationality and obligations under international human rights instruments as the basis for the request.
Abu Obaidha Arin, an aide to Hasina, described the move as a step toward her homecoming. He stated that Hasina looks forward to reclaiming her fundamental rights as a citizen after having her documents revoked by the previous regime. He added that she is determined to return by December.
The timeline of her departure began on Aug. 5, 2024, when student-led protests forced her from power. The military sent her to India at that time. In 2025, a special tribunal sentenced her to death for crimes against humanity. The tribunal ruled she was responsible for ordering a crackdown that left hundreds dead and thousands injured. The United Nations reported that nearly 1,400 people were killed. Hasina denies wrongdoing and has challenged the trial's legitimacy.
Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir said Thursday that Bangladesh wants Hasina handed over under an extradition treaty with India. He noted that India has declined to do so. "We want Hasina to be handed over. She will be handed over. She is a terrorist. She is a fugitive. There is an active extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India," Kobir told reporters in Dhaka.
An interim government headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus led the country after Hasina's ouster. That government held an election in February where Hasina’s Awami League party was barred from contesting. Tarique Rahman, the son of a longtime archrival of Hasina, came to power in a landslide.
