‘No scope’ left for Shakib’s return, says State Minister for Youth and Sports Aminul

State Minister for Youth and Sports Aminul Haque said that there was no scope left to consider cricketer Shakib Al Hasan’s case with any leniency after he appeared in a media event attended by deposed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi on Wednesday.

“We had been looking at the matter with considerable flexibility and tolerance. After what has happened, I don't think there is any scope to think that way anymore,” Aminul said in a statement released on Friday.

Shakib, who was a member of parliament of the Awami League regime which fell in the face of the July Revolution in 2024, has been living in the US for two years.

Shakib is facing multiple legal cases, including a murder charge during the July Revolution.

Shakib said in an interview with Reuters on Friday that he is ready to return to the country, face trial on charges including murder, and play a farewell series if the government guarantees his safety.

However, on Wednesday, on the second anniversary of the fall of the Awami League regime and Hasina fleeing to India, he virtually joined a press conference organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in the Indian capital, where Hasina also attended virtually.

Aminul said that after Shakib’s appearance alongside Hasina, who has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, the government will no longer show any special consideration for the all-rounder.

“Someone who has stood on the stage of an autocrat, I don't think, has any scope of coming back. We were being flexible because we were considering him as a player. There is no such scope now. If he comes back, it will have to be through the legal process," Aminul said.