Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said the government wants former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to return through “legal procedures”, following her recent remarks expressing hope of returning home “very soon” despite facing a death sentence.
“We want to get her back through legal procedures,” Ahmed, a senior minister in Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s cabinet, told reporters recently.
He added that he was unaware of any legal barrier preventing Hasina’s return if she chose to come back.
Hasina has been living in India since August 2024 after her Awami League government was overthrown in a student-led uprising.
The interim administration headed by Muhammad Yunus later banned the Awami League through an executive order and began proceedings against Hasina in Bangladesh’s reconstituted International Crimes Tribunal.
In November 2025, the tribunal sentenced Hasina to death in absentia, a ruling criticised by her supporters.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, which assumed office in February, backed the interim administration’s decision to ban the Awami League.
Ahmed’s comments came a day after Prime Minister Rahman’s information affairs adviser Zahedur Rahman said no “extra-judicial measures” would be taken against Hasina if she returned to Bangladesh.
He added that the former prime minister would have to “surrender to the judiciary” and face the ongoing legal proceedings against her.
According to local media reports in Dhaka, legal experts have said the deadline for challenging the tribunal’s verdict has already passed.
In recent interviews with Indian media outlets, Hasina said she hoped to return to Bangladesh “very soon” with her “head held high”. She also criticised the country’s current leadership over alleged democratic backsliding and warned of growing anti-India rhetoric.
Hasina has further said in some interviews that she plans to continue leading the Awami League while in exile.
