Hasina Says She Will Return to Bangladesh in December Despite Death Sentence

Sheikh Hasina told the Associated Press by email on Nov. 5, 2026, that she will return to Bangladesh in December. "If death is my destiny, I would rather die on the soil of my own country, among my own people. So, I will return to Bangladesh. That decision has not changed," she said. She fled to India in 2024 after a student-led uprising. A special tribunal sentenced her to death in 2025 for crimes against humanity; the UN estimated nearly 1,400 killed in the unrest. She first announced the plan in August and did not say how she would return. Hasina said she knows she may be arrested, imprisoned, tortured or killed but "cannot spend the rest of my life watching my people suffer from a distance." Bangladesh has repeatedly sought extradition; India's Dinesh Trivedi said in October the process is legal and well structured and nobody can give a timeframe. She alleged at least 20,000 Awami League members killed since August 2024 and said there is no normal political or democratic environment. After Muhammad Yunus led an 18-month interim administration, Tarique Rahman won a February landslide; her banned party was barred. She said extremist elements have grown more confident and she needs no foreign power's blessing to return.