The Bangladeshi prosecutor who secured the death sentence against ousted leader Sheikh Hasina said on Tuesday (November 10, 2026) she will be executed if she returns home.
asserted
she → secure → Tuesday
Also read | ‘How can my press conference damage India-Bangladesh relations?
asserted
conference → read → relations
I am not so powerful,’ says Sheikh Hasina
asserted
Hasina → say → ?
Ms. 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 convicted of crimes against humanity over the 2024 crackdown on protesters.
asserted
she → end → protesters
"Sheikh Hasina has no option but to face the execution of the verdict," Md Aminul Islam told reporters, responding to reports she planned to return from self-imposed exile in neighbouring India.
asserted
she → have → India
He added that the 79-year-old fugitive had missed the deadline to appeal against her conviction, leaving her with no further legal recourse.
asserted
fugitive → add → recourse
"The statutory appeal period has expired, and no appeal can now be filed," he said.
asserted
he → expire → ?
The daughter of a revolutionary who led Bangladesh to independence in 1971, Ms. Hasina presided over breakneck economic growth, helping transform the South Asian nation of 170 million people from a largely agricultural economy into a global manufacturing hub.
Critics have accused Ms. Hasina of jailing political rivals, enacting harsh anti-press laws and overseeing widespread human rights abuses, including the killing of opposition activists.
Her 2024 crackdown left up to 1,400 people dead, according to the United Nations.
uncertain
crackdown → lead → Nations
She fled to neighbouring India by helicopter in August 2024 as angry crowds stormed her palace.
She has remained there ever since, hidden from public view.
asserted
She → flee → view
Only occasionally has she addressed news conferences by telephone, her voice sounding frail.
asserted
voice → address → telephone
Ms. Hasina has repeatedly said she intends to return to Bangladesh in December, telling AFP she is "fully aware" she faces being hanged if she returns.
asserted
she → say → AFP
She said "fear cannot decide" her "duty to the people".
asserted
fear → say → people
Ms. Hasina defied orders from the court to return to Bangladesh to attend her trial last year on whether she bore command responsibility for the bloody crackdown on the student-led uprising.
asserted
she → defy → uprising
Witnesses included a man whose face was ripped apart by a gunshot.
asserted
face → include → gunshot
Ms. Hasina, who was assigned a State-appointed lawyer, called the trial a "jurisprudential joke".
asserted
who → assign → trial
In November 2025, a court in Dhaka sentenced her to death in absentia after finding her guilty on three counts of crimes against humanity, including incitement, ordering killings and failing to prevent atrocities.
asserted
her → sentence → atrocities
Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry has sought her extradition from India, which says the request is under legal review.
asserted
request → seek → review
Her continued presence there has strained relations between the neighbouring countries.
She also faces a string of other cases, including corruption charges.
asserted
She → continue → charges
Ms. Hasina's lawyers this week requested to renew her passport, without saying where or when she wished to travel.
Mr. Islam said the passport authority "may refuse to issue a passport" to anyone found guilty of serious crimes.
uncertain
authority → request → crimes
"Our advice to Sheikh Hasina would be, if you genuinely wish to return to Bangladesh, you should write to the Indian authorities and seek to facilitate your return under the extradition treaty," he said.
asserted
he → wish → treaty
Ms. Hasina's pledge to return presents a political challenge for Prime Minister Tarique 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 (November 9, 2026) said they had arrested 12 people for a series of petrol bomb attacks, including against property, an empty bus and police vehicles this month.
asserted
they → say → property
None of the attacks resulted in casualties.
asserted
None → result → casualties
Dhaka police spokesman Md Akhtar Hossain said the suspects were members of Ms. Hasina's banned Awami League party.
asserted
suspects → say → party
The Aporia
