British newspaper The Guardian has described Sheikh Hasina as a “disgraced former leader” in a report on her planned return to Bangladesh in December, more than two years after a mass uprising toppled her government.
The report, published on Tuesday, November 10, under the headline “Disgraced former leader Sheikh Hasina plans return to Bangladesh from exile,” said the former prime minister was confident of returning despite facing a death sentence for crimes against humanity.
Citing several exiled Awami League leaders in India, the newspaper reported that Hasina's application for a new Bangladeshi passport and national identity card was a sign that she intended to follow through on her announcement.
“The reason our leader Sheikh Hasina has applied for a passport is that she genuinely wants to return,” an Awami League leader based in Kolkata told The Guardian on condition of anonymity.
The leader said Hasina would seek a travel pass if Bangladesh refused to issue her a passport.
“She is confident about her return, which is why she has applied for a new passport and a national identity card,” the leader said.
Hasina fled to India on August 5, 2024, as a student-led uprising brought an end to her 15-year rule. She has since been living in Delhi under Indian protection.
In November 2025, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal convicted her in absentia of crimes against humanity over the crackdown on protesters that the United Nations estimates killed as many as 1,400 people.
Hasina has rejected the conviction and questioned the tribunal's legitimacy.
The Guardian reported that a British lawyer representing Hasina had written to the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi on Monday, requesting fresh travel and identity documents.
But Bangladesh's chief prosecutor, Aminul Islam, said there was “no legal scope” to issue a passport to a convicted fugitive.
“Sheikh Hasina has no option but to face the execution of the verdict,” Aminul told the newspaper, arguing that the deadline for appealing her conviction had expired.
The Bangladesh government has also rejected the prospect of facilitating her voluntary return.
It has insisted that Hasina should be handed over through the extradition arrangements between Bangladesh and India.
New Delhi has not complied with Dhaka's extradition requests, adding to tensions between the two neighbours.
The Guardian reported that several Awami League leaders living in India were preparing to return alongside Hasina, despite the prospect of arrest and prosecution.
“Some of us have been sentenced in absentia by kangaroo courts, and we know we will be jailed. But we are ready to face the consequences and return to our own people. We will fight this politically,” a senior party leader told the newspaper.
The report noted that some former Awami League figures had already returned to Bangladesh.
Among them was former lawmaker Mustaque Ahmed Ruhi, who was arrested in September after returning and faces prosecution over an alleged murder during the 2024 uprising.
The newspaper also reported that exiled Awami League leaders continued to meet in Kolkata and were regularly summoned to Delhi for meetings with Hasina.
The proposed return comes as Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's government faces inflation and labour unrest, including protests that have disrupted hundreds of garment factories.
Analysts cited by The Guardian suggested that Hasina's return plan could be aimed at rebuilding her party's support and destabilising the elected government.
The Awami League remains barred from political activity, while thousands of its members are in prison or have gone underground.
Despite the legal risks, Hasina has continued to insist that she would return.
In an email to the Associated Press this week, she said: “If death is my destiny, I would rather die on the soil of my own country, among my own people.”
Her supporters insist the December homecoming is a serious plan. Bangladesh's prosecutors, however, have made clear that a return would expose her to the death sentence already imposed by the tribunal.