Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was dramatically ousted following a brutal crackdown on protesters in ۲۰۲۴ and fled to India, is expected to make a rare public appearance after two years in exile in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Two years after the events of the summer of ۲۰۲۴, which saw an uprising by young people protesting against a reservation system for government jobs turn violent, the ۷۸-year-old is due to appear via videolink at an event hosted by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) of South Asia, alongside her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and other Awami League leaders, including former Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel.
Recommended Stories
list of ۳ itemsend of list
Dhaka continues to seek Hasina’s extradition from India following last year’s death sentence passed against her in absentia for ordering forces to fire on protesters.
New Delhi, which has allowed her to remain and resisted attempts to extradite her to Bangladesh, has denied any role in planning the virtual speech, saying the event has been organised by a private media organisation.
On Tuesday, Bangladeshi authorities banned local media from airing her speech. Hasina’s aide, Abu Obaidha Arin, slammed the move, saying Dhaka’s “efforts to silence dissent cannot extinguish voices” beyond the country’s borders.
Why is Sheikh Hasina in exile?
Hasina has been living in self-imposed exile in New Delhi since student-led protests toppled her Awami League government in August ۲۰۲۴. A caretaker government took over after she fled, before elections were held earlier this year.
She was accused of ordering security forces to crack down brutally on protesters, including telling officers to “shoot them“, and was sentenced to death in absentia in ۲۰۲۵ for crimes against humanity, a verdict she has dismissed as “legally void”. An estimated ۱,۴۰۰ people were killed during the crackdown, and more than ۲۰,۰۰۰ were injured.
Bangladesh’s interim government had called for the death penalty in relation to that, as well as for ۱,۵۰۰ cases of enforced disappearances during her ۱۷-year rule, according to an official inquiry. Many of those detained were political rivals from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami.
How has Bangladesh responded to Hasina’s plans to speak?
The government has banned Bangladeshi media from broadcasting her speech.
In January, Hasina made an audio address which was played to a packed FCC in New Delhi. In it, she accused Muhammad Yunus, the head of Bangladesh’s then-interim government, of being a “murderous fascist” and said Bangladesh would “never experience free and fair elections” under him. More than ۱۰۰,۰۰۰ people listened to the address, which was broadcast online.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was “surprised and shocked” that she had been allowed to make the speech from India.
“Allowing the event to take place in the Indian capital and letting mass murderer Hasina openly deliver her hate speech … constitute a clear affront to the people and the Government of Bangladesh,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday about the address – Hasina’s first since she was ousted.
The Foreign Ministry’s statement added that Hasina had “openly called for the removal” of the interim government and issued “blatant incitements to her party loyalists and the general public to carry out acts of terror” to derail the elections, which were held on February ۱۲ this year.
With Hasina in exile in India, hundreds of families who lost loved ones in the protests have been left wondering if the deposed prime minister will face justice.
Among them is Shaina Begum, the mother of ۲۰-year-old student Sajjat Hosen Sojal, who was shot and his body burned by the police hours before the student-led uprising forced Hasina to resign and flee the country.
“I cannot be calm until she [Hasina] is brought back and hanged in this country,” she told Al Jazeera after the former leader’s death sentence was announced.
What is Hasina expected to say in her speech?
Hasina’s speech will mark two years of her government’s fall on August ۵, ۲۰۲۴, when she fled to India by helicopter.
She is expected to give some indication of her political future at the event, which is titled “Sheikh Hasina’s homecoming”.
Last month, the former prime minister said she and other Awami League leaders planned to return from exile in December this year and present themselves at court.
“I may be killed. I may be arrested. I may be sent to prison,” Hasina told the AFP news agency. “I am fully aware of my fate. Still, I want to go back because my people are calling me.”
Returning to Bangladesh despite a death sentence hanging over her is seen by some as an attempt to remain politically relevant and revive an outlawed party that once dominated Bangladesh. The Awami League was barred from participating in this year’s elections, in which the BNP, led by Tarique Rahman, won a two-thirds majority.
Smruti Pattanaik, research fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses in New Delhi, said Hasina’s plan to announce her return is likey aimed at mobilising Awami League members and providing them with some direction.
Going back to Bangladesh “will allow her party to project that it is not scared to face the charges”, Pattanaik told Al Jazeera. If the Awami League is to survive, “the leadership needs to think of the party’s future rather than individual gain”.
The new government led by Rahman is unlikely to welcome her back. Under Hasina’s rule, Rahman’s mother, former leader Khaleda Zia, who died in December last year, spent years in jail in Dhaka on corruption charges, which the BNP says were politically motivated.
Some observers have warned that the return of Hasina, who still has a sizeable following in Bangladesh who she may be able to mobilise, risks creating political instability.
Dhaka has repeatedly requested Hasina’s extradition, and New Delhi says the request is being examined through its legal processes.
In November last year, the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry cited an extradition agreement with India and said it was an “obligatory responsibility” for New Delhi to ensure Hasina’s deportation. It added that it “would be a highly unfriendly act and a disregard for justice” for India to continue to provide Hasina refuge.
But India has long been seen as Hasina’s greatest ally and is understood to be reluctant to force her return. Under her leadership, New Delhi was granted economic and security cooperation with Bangladesh, including lucrative deals on energy, trade infrastructure and defence.
Political analysts in India told Al Jazeera in November last year that an exception exists in the extradition treaty in cases in which the offence is “of a political character”.
“India understands this [Hasina’s case] to be political vindictiveness of the ruling political forces in Bangladesh,” said Sanjay Bhardwaj, a professor of South Asian studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
In New Delhi’s view, Bhardwaj said, Bangladesh is today ruled by “anti-India forces”.
The then-interim leader, Yunus, frequently criticised India, and leaders of the protest movement that ousted Hasina have often blamed New Delhi for its support for the former prime minister.
However, India-Bangladesh relations have improved since Rahman became prime minister in February. India has invited him to a BRICS summit in September.
Dhaka had asked New Delhi to clarify its stance on Hasina’s planned address, warning India that allowing political activities by a fugitive could hurt improving bilateral ties.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Tuesday the event was being organised by a private media entity.
“The government has no involvement whatsoever in it, neither does it endorse any views that may be expressed at the forum,” he told a media briefing.
