DHAKA, July 13 (Reuters) – Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be jailed if she returns from self-imposed exile in India, a senior official said on Monday, days after Hasina told Reuters she planned to go back in December and surrender to a court.
Hasina faces a death sentence in Bangladesh and her party is banned following a popular uprising against her long rule in 2024 that the United Nations said killed 1,400 people. She has been living in New Delhi since August of that year.
“Sheikh Hasina is a convicted criminal. If she surrenders, action will be taken against her as per the laws of Bangladesh,” Shama Obaed Islam, Bangladesh’s state minister for foreign affairs, told reporters.
“She will have to go to jail and further proceedings will follow as per the provisions of the law.”
The country’s war-crimes court sentenced Hasina in November to death in absentia for ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising. She has denied the charges from exile.
Bangladesh is now governed by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s administration, which took office in February after elections and is seeking to stabilise the country following two years of political turmoil.
Bangladesh has asked India to extradite Hasina, and New Delhi said in April it was examining the request and that it wanted to “engage constructively with the new government and further strengthen bilateral ties”.
Hasina, in her first interview during her exile, told Reuters last week she intended to return voluntarily. She said many of her party colleagues living abroad since her ouster would also return to face trial.
“Cases have been filed against almost all of our leaders and workers, and many of them are in hiding,” Hasina said. “So I said that this time I am returning home, and one day, all of you should come. All together, we will all surrender in court.”
Obaed said Hasina’s recent statement was “an attempt to mobilise fugitive party leaders and activists”.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul;Editing by Krishna N. Das and Helen Popper)
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