Sheikh Hasina asks for new Bangladeshi passport ahead of planned return from India
The ousted prime minister, sentenced to death in her absence, says she will go home in December as Dhaka presses New Delhi to hand her over.
Former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina has asked for a new passport and national identity card so she can return from exile in India, according to letters seen by Reuters and The Associated Press. The Straits Times and the South China Morning Post, carrying Reuters, said the request was made on Monday and was her first such communication since she fled in 2024.
Reuters reported that the letter came from her lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers and was addressed to Preeti Rahman, Bangladesh's Acting High Commissioner in New Delhi. The AP account, published by The Hindu, said a counsel for Ms Hasina emailed the letter to Bangladesh's top diplomat in London.
"In view of the reported revocation of her existing Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card 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," the lawyers wrote, according to Reuters. The letter asked for the applications to be handled "expeditiously".
Abu Obaidha Arin, an aide to Ms Hasina, told the AP the request was "a significant step toward her homecoming". "She is determined to return to Bangladesh by December, and she will undoubtedly return home," he said. Reuters reported that she has said she intends to return to surrender before a court, and that aides said a date would be announced once formalities were complete.
Neither the Bangladeshi mission in Delhi nor spokespeople for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman responded immediately, Reuters said. The Hindu reported that the government had earlier dismissed suggestions she needed new documents to come home and has been seeking her extradition from India.
On Thursday, Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir told reporters in Dhaka that Bangladesh wanted her handed over under its extradition treaty with India. "She is a terrorist. She is a fugitive," he said, according to the AP. India has declined to hand her over.
Ms Hasina was forced from power by student-led protests on 5 August 2024 and was sent to India by the military. A special tribunal sentenced her to death in her absence in 2025 for crimes against humanity over the crackdown on the protests. The United Nations has said nearly 1,400 people were killed. She denies wrongdoing and has challenged the legitimacy of the trial.
Her Awami League, once the country's largest party, is now banned and was barred from contesting the February election, which Mr Rahman, the son of a longtime rival of Ms Hasina, won in a landslide. Reuters reported that many party colleagues have been jailed or are in exile, and that relations between Dhaka and New Delhi deteriorated sharply after India gave her refuge.
Sources: The Straits Times, Bangladesh’s ousted PM Hasina seeks new passport in clearest sign of return; South China Morning Post, Ex-Bangladesh leader Hasina applies for passport in signal she’s ready for homecoming; The Hindu, Bangladesh’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina appeals for a new passport to return from exile.
