Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina vows to return home this year

DHAKA, June 29 (Reuters) – Ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to return to Bangladesh this year, brushing aside a death sentence handed down in absentia and denouncing the ruling as “illegal, unconstitutional and politically motivated.”

Hasina, 78, who fled to India after a student-led uprising ousted her government in August 2024, said in an interview with Indian broadcaster NDTV that she was undeterred by the risk and would overcome “every obstacle and every conspiracy” to return home.

“I want to say clearly: overcoming every obstacle and every conspiracy, I will return to my country this year,” Hasina said when asked whether she would come back despite the death sentence. It was the first time she had given a time for her return.

Last November, a Dhaka court sentenced Hasina to death after convicting her of inciting, ordering killings and failing to prevent atrocities during the 2024 unrest.

Rejecting the verdict, she accused Bangladesh’s judiciary of being used as “an instrument of political revenge” aimed at eliminating her Awami League party’s leadership.

“I do not fear death,” she said, adding that past efforts to dismantle her party had failed and would fail again.

Hasina said her planned return was not driven by personal ambition but by what she described as a broader mission to restore political rights, democracy, the rule of law and the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War.

Defending her Awami League party, she said it remained deeply rooted in Bangladesh despite a ban on its activities. The restrictions, first imposed by the previous interim administration, remain in place under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government, which took office after February elections.

“The Awami League is not a paper organisation but a political force rooted in the soil of Bengal, in the people of Bengal, in the history of Bengal and in the identity of the Bengali nation,” Hasina said.

She also urged the Tarique Rahman-led government to restore what she called a proper democratic environment by lifting the ban on her party, withdrawing what she described as false cases against its leaders, releasing political prisoners and allowing peaceful political activity.

The government has defended the legal proceedings, saying they are part of efforts to ensure accountability for alleged crimes committed during the final months of Hasina’s administration.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)