Bangladesh challenged on Monday ousted leader Sheikh Hasina to seek extradition from India if she was serious about returning home, while reviewing an application to renew her passport.
asserted
she → challenge → passport
Hasina, whose 15-year rule was ended by a mass uprising she tried to crush, has vowed to return in December to Bangladesh, where she was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity over the 2024 crackdown on protesters.
asserted
she → end → protesters
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters on Monday that authorities were looking into Hasina’s request for a new passport, adding that she was a convicted offender who had taken refuge abroad.
“The legal basis of the application, whether it followed due process, and whether there is a right to apply for a passport — all those matters are being reviewed,” he said.
asserted
he → tell → passport
“We had already sent a letter to that country (India) seeking her extradition through due process,” he added.
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he → send → process
Hasina’s British lawyers have requested to renew her documents after the “reported revocation” of her passport.
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lawyers → request → passport
A letter by law firm Matrix Chambers, addressed to Bangladesh’s high commission in New Delhi and seen by AFP, requested her passport renewal — but made no mention of when or where she planned to travel.
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she → address → when
Md Aminul Islam, chief prosecutor of the court that sentenced Hasina to death in November 2025, dismissed the application as “nothing but a political stunt”.
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that → sentence → stunt
Hasina has said several times she intends to return, telling AFP in an email that she was “fully aware” she faced being hanged.
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she → say → email
She has told Reuters she plans to return to surrender before a court, and her aides said on Monday the date would be announced once various formalities were completed.
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formalities → tell → Monday
Humaiun Kobir, Bangladesh’s junior foreign minister, said she should simply surrender herself to face justice.
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she → say → justice
“Let her tell India: ‘Yes, there is an extradition treaty.
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her → let → India
I killed this many people, and I am ready to face the sentence.
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I → kill → sentence
Please execute me there’,” he told reporters.
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he → execute → reporters
“She is a thief, a bandit and a terrorist who fled…
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who → flee → ?
How could she, having fled, want to come back?”
‘Trying to create panic’
Hasina fled to old ally India in 2024, and has not been seen in public since but has taken part in online news conferences by telephone.
uncertain
Hasina → flee → telephone
She was convicted and sentenced in absentia.
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She → convict → absentia
Her continued presence in India has strained ties between Dhaka and New Delhi, which says the extradition request is under legal review.
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request → continue → review
The government of Tarique Rahman, whose party won elections in February in which Hasina’s Awami League was barred from contesting, has said it would ensure the former prime minister receives due legal process in all cases against her should she return.
“In view of the reported revocation of her existing Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card (NID) by the interim government and other authorities, I respectfully request that you take the necessary steps to issue a new Bangladeshi passport and national identity card for our client,” Hasina’s lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers wrote to Preeti Rahman, acting high commissioner at Bangladesh’s embassy in Delhi.
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lawyers → win → Delhi
The letter asked for the applications to be processed “expeditiously” on the basis of her Bangladeshi nationality and in accordance with “obligations arising under international human rights instruments”.
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applications → ask → instruments
But Hasina’s pledge to return presents a political challenge for Rahman’s government.
asserted
pledge → return → government
Many Bangladeshis want to see her hanged, while others fear her return could galvanise her former supporters and trigger a fresh confrontation between rival camps.
uncertain
return → want → camps
Police on Monday said they had arrested 12 people for a series of petrol bomb attacks, including against property, an empty bus and police vehicles this month, without causing any casualties.
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they → say → casualties
Dhaka police spokesman Md Akhtar Hossain said the suspects were members of Hasina’s banned Awami League party.
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suspects → say → party
“They are trying to create panic among people,” he told AFP.
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he → try → AFP
“We are remaining vigilant to deal with any untoward situation.”
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We → remain → situation
The Aporia
