Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina to Return Home This Year

Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been living in exile in India for the past two years, said on Wednesday (5 August) that she will return to her home country before the end of the year.

“The date of my return will be announced later. However, I will return to my people,” she said in a statement to the media in New Delhi via an audio recording.

Hasina added that she wants to return to her homeland to revive the country’s path of progress.

In the audio message, she demanded the lifting of the ban on her party, the Bangladesh Awami League, the halting of false cases against her and her party members, and the restoration of freedom of speech in Bangladesh.

The audio was released at a media event at a journalists’ club in the Indian capital to mark two years since Hasina was ousted from Bangladesh following mass protests in 2024.

Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said last month that Hasina will be arrested upon her return to the country because she has been found guilty by a court.

He added that the government wants to extradite her from India under a bilateral agreement and has sent a reminder after the interim government first submitted an extradition request.

“We want her back, and we want her to face the legal process,” the minister said, adding that the Bangladesh Awami League will also face trial.

In November 2025, a special tribunal in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka handed down a death sentence in absentia against Hasina for crimes against humanity during the wave of protests in July 2024 in the country.