‘Sheikh Hasina Will Be Arrested The Moment She Returns’: Bangladesh Minister

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be arrested the moment she sets foot in the country upon her return from India, its Law Minister M Asaduzzaman said on Thursday.

The remarks come a day after Hasina told news agency AFP that she was determined to return to her country by December even though she feared for her life.

“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,” she was quoted as saying.

But Asaduzzaman asserted that Hasina, who was sentenced to death in November 2025, may not even get the chance to surrender directly to a court before getting arrested.

The former Prime Minister in exile had last month told NDTV in an exclusive interview she was determined to return to Bangladesh, “overcoming every obstacle and every conspiracy”.

The path to the return may not be easy for the 78-year-old, who, Asaduzzaman said, had the right to return but warned that the “law will take its own course and we will do nothing violating the law”.

“Despite being a death penalty convict, being a Bangladeshi citizen, if she intends to surrender showing respect to the law by returning home, perhaps she will be arrested before she could do so,” the minister told reporters. “We will exercise the authority that the law has given us”.

The now-banned Awami League leader also had her passport revoked by the interim government that succeeded her following a youth-led ouster in 2024. Asked how she could return in that scenario, Asaduzzaman said, “It is her problem, not mine.”

“(But) whenever she enters into our territory, I will enforce the authority that the law has reposed upon me,” he added.

Sheikh Hasina has been living in exile in India since 2024, after her government was toppled during the violent student-led protests in Bangladesh. A year later, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced her to death, in absentia, convicting the leader of crimes against humanity for her role in the crackdown on student-protesters.

Hasina has described the judgment as “political vengeance dressed up as law”.

International human rights watchdogs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called the proceedings “flawed”, while the UN human rights office has questioned its fairness.

Earlier this year, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power following elections and Tarique Rahman took charge as the new prime minister.

Dhaka has been seeking to extradite Hasina for a while now, while she remains in a secret location in India.

New Delhi has acknowledged the extradition request and maintains it is “under examination”.

(With PTI and AFP inputs)