Hasina Vows Return from Exile as 'Duty to People'; Dhaka 'Outraged'

Bangladesh's former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to return from exile despite the risk of imprisonment, in a speech that sparked fury in Dhaka.

"I may be detained, I may be sent to prison. But fear cannot decide my duty to the people," Hasina, 78, said in an audio broadcast to a packed press club in New Delhi.

"I cannot stay away while my beloved countrymen are suffering," added Hasina, who is in hiding in India.

She was speaking on the second anniversary of the overthrow of her iron-fisted rule on Aug 5, 2024 by a student-led uprising. Hasina fled by helicopter to India as crowds stormed her palace.

The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as she tried to cling to power. In November 2025, a court in Dhaka found Hasina guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to be hanged.

Bangladesh has formally requested her extradition, which New Delhi has said was "under examination".

'Mass murderer'

Dhaka's foreign ministry issued a fierce rebuke after the speech. "Bangladesh is outraged," it said in a statement. "Convicted mass murderer Hasina and her mafia enterprise will never have a place in the polity of Bangladesh."

Protesters in Dhaka burnt her effigy, and the government said the speech had damaged diplomatic ties.

Her vow to return comes as Bangladesh and India seek to repair strained ties, with Hasina remaining a persistent point of friction.

India's foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal, speaking to reporters ahead of the event, said New Delhi's "government has no involvement whatsoever in it, neither does it endorse any views that may be expressed".

But Dhaka's foreign ministry said allowing Hasina to speak in public was "deeply hurtful to our people's sentiment and detrimental to the development of harmonious bilateral relations".

Hasina said she wanted to return in December as it marks the month Bangladesh gained independence in 1971. Her remarks echoed a July interview with AFP, in which she wrote by email from hiding: "I may be killed. I may be arrested. I may be sent to prison. I am fully aware of my fate. Still, I want to go back because my people are calling me."

The Bangladeshi government has said it will ensure Hasina receives due legal process in all cases against her should she return. Rights groups have long accused her former administration of abuses including the murder of rivals, suppression of opposition parties, rigged courts and one-sided elections.