Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

File picture of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
| Photo Credit: AP

Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has alleged that there was a conspiracy to kill her and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana the moment she was ousted from power. “Rehana and I survived, just 20-25 minutes apart we escaped death,” Ms. Hasina said in an audio speech posted on the Facebook page of her Bangladesh Awami League party late on Friday (January 17, 2025).

In August 2024, a student-led movement ousted Ms. Hasina after weeks of protests and clashes that killed over 600 people. Ms. Hasina, 76, fled to India and an interim government led by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed.

Ms. Hasina recalled that there were conspiracies to kill her at various times.

“I just feel that surviving the killings on August 21, or surviving the huge bomb in Kotalipara, surviving on this time August 5, 2024, there must be a will of Allah, a hand of Allah”, she said.

“Otherwise, I’m not going to survive this time!” she added. “You later saw how they planned to kill me. However, it seems to be a mercy of Allah that I am still alive because Allah wants me to do something more,” she said.

“Although I am suffering, I am without my country, without my home, everything has been burned,” she said in an emotionally tearful voice.

Sheikh Hasina has escaped several assassination plots. The 2004 Dhaka grenade attack took place at an anti-terrorism rally organised by Awami League on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004. The attack left 24 dead and more than 500 injured. Ms. Hasina also sustained some injuries in the attack.

The Kotalipara bomb was another plot to kill Ms.Hasina that she referred to in her audio message. The 76kg bomb was recovered on July 21, 2000, and two days later, the 40 kg bomb was recovered at Sheikh Lutfor Rahman Ideal College in Kotalipara, where the Awami League President and the then leader of the opposition Sheikh Hasina was supposed to address the rally on July 22, 2000.

Dhaka:

Bangladesh’s anti-graft commission has filed cases against ousted leader Sheikh Hasina and her family, including a British government minister and a senior United Nations official, its chief said Monday.

Hasina, 77, fled a revolution in August 2024 to neighbouring India, where she has defied extradition requests from Bangladesh to face charges including mass murder.

The cases are linked to an alleged large-scale land grab of lucrative plots in a suburb of the densely populated capital Dhaka.

“Sheikh Hasina, in collaboration with some officials, allocated plots for herself and her family members,” Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director general Akhter Hossain told reporters.

Hossain said those named in the case also include Hasina’s niece, British anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq. She has insisted she has done nothing wrong.

Hasina’s daughter Saima Wazed, the World Health Organization’s South East Asia chief, is also listed. There was no immediate response from Wazed.

“The ACC investigation team has obtained the necessary documents and found sufficient evidence to file the cases,” Hossain told AFP.

“They will include relevant details, such as property acquisitions while conducting further investigations.”

Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy is also named, as well as Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana, Siddiq’s mother.

Siddiq referred herself this month to the standards adviser of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The referral came after British newspapers the Sunday Times and Financial Times reported that she had lived in properties linked to Hasina’s administration.

Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission also launched a probe in December into the alleged embezzlement by Hasina’s family of $5 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant.

The kickback allegations relate to the $12.65 billion Rooppur nuclear plant, which was bankrolled by Moscow with a 90 percent loan.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Dhaka:

Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus on Thursday said deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s reported extension of visa was unrelated to Dhaka’s request for her extradition to stand trial.

“We have requested India to return Sheikh Hasina as a Bangladeshi citizen. Her status in India has no relevance to this request. It is not a matter of our consideration,” a foreign office spokesman told journalists in a weekly media briefing.

Sheikh Hasina, 77, has been living in India since August 5 last year when she fled Bangladesh following a massive student-led protest that toppled her Awami League’s (AL) 16-year regime.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants for Sheikh Hasina and several former Cabinet ministers, advisers, and military and civil officials for “crimes against humanity and genocide”.

The interim government on Tuesday said it has revoked the passports of Sheikh Hasina and 96 others over their alleged involvement in enforced disappearances and the July killings.

On Thursday, spokesman Rafiqul Alam added that Dhaka did not “have additional information, so we will not speculate” as he was asked for comments about the media reports that New Delhi recently extended Sheikh Hasina’s visa while Bangladesh revoked her diplomatic passport.

But he said when a Bangladeshi citizen’s passport is scrapped, the country concerned is informed through Bangladesh’s missions and in such cases, a visa is no longer required.

Bangladesh last month officially sought Sheikh Hasina’s repatriation to stand trial on charges of mass killings during the Anti-Discrimination Student’s Movement dubbed as July-August uprising that toppled her Awami League government on August 5. Sheikh Hasina secretly left for India the same day.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal, originally formed to try the hardened collaborators of atrocities of Pakistani troops during its 1971 Liberation War, so far has issued two arrest warrants ordering authorities to arrest her and ensure her court appearance by February 12 as she was also accused of enforced disappearances during the past 16-year rule.

New Delhi acknowledged the receipt of the extradition request but made no response to the letter.

Asked how long India could delay responding to Bangladesh’s note verbal and the diplomatic process involved, the spokesman said, “There is no black-and-white answer to this.” “We will wait for India’s response,” he said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

The interim government in Bangladesh has sent a diplomatic note and urged India to send deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina back to Dhaka. The 77-year-old Awami League leader has been living in India since August 5 when she fled Bangladesh amid massive protests that brought down her 16-year-old regime and forced her to flee.

The Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has issued arrest warrants in names of Sheikh Hasina and her ministers, advisors and former military and civil officials, accusing them of “crimes against humanity and genocide”.

Touhid Hossain, the foreign affairs adviser in the interim government, told reporters, “We have sent a note verbale (diplomatic message) to the Indian government saying that Bangladesh wants her back here for the judicial process.”

Earlier, Home Advisor Jahangir Alam said his office has sent a letter to the External Affairs Ministry here to facilitate Ms Hasina’s extradition. “We have sent a letter to the foreign ministry regarding her extradition. The process is currently underway,” he told the media.

Mr Alam said an extradition treaty exists between Dhaka and New Delhi Ms Hasina could be taken back to Bangladesh under that arrangement.

The diplomatic communication seeking Sheikh Hasina’s return comes weeks after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited Bangladesh and spoke to Chief Advisor in the interim government, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. Speaking to reporters in Dhaka, Mr Misri had said he had a frank, candid, and constructive exchange of views with his interlocutors and discussed the entire gamut of issues in the “extremely important bilateral relationship”. He said India had also raised the issue of attacks on minorities, including Hindus, with Bangladesh leaders.

A statement from the Chief Advisor’s office had said that Sheikh Hasina’s stay in India was also discussed. The Chief Advisor had then said, “Our people are concerned because she is making many statements from there. It creates tensions.”

Ahead of the Foreign Secretary’s visit, Ms Hasina targeted the interim government and accused Muhammad Yunus of running a “fascist regime”. In a virtual address to Awami League supporters in London, she alleged that Muhammad Yunus was the “mastermind” behind the political turmoil that ended her regime.

“Since August 5, the attacks on minorities, places of worship of Hindus, Christians and Buddhists have been rampant. We condemn it. The Jamaat and terrorists are having a free run under the new regime,” she said. “Bangladesh is now under the grip of a fascist regime where people’s democratic rights have been obliterated. Our government’s achievements in poverty alleviation and infrastructure development, strengthening of democracy were being undone under Yunus’s leadership,” she added.

Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 with her close aides and former ministers, ending a 15-year rule. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Tuesday asked the international police organization Interpol to issue a red notice for the arrest of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in connection with the deaths of hundreds of protesters during a mass uprising against her.

Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 with her close aides and former ministers, ending a 15-year rule.

Also read | Can Sheikh Hasina be extradited from India to Bangladesh to stand trial?

Nobel Peace laurate Muhammad Yunus took over as the interim leader of the South Asian nation on Aug. 8, and later reconstituted the tribunal that once handled charges of crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

B.M. Sultan Mahmud, a prosecutor at the tribunal, told The Associated Press that they wrote to Interpol through the police chief seeking assistance from the France-based organization in the arrest of Hasina and others.

The Yunus-led government has promised to try Hasina and said that it would seek her extradition from India.

New Delhi:

The political churn in Bangladesh is that country’s “internal matter” but India is keen to continue what was a stable relationship, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told NDTV Tuesday afternoon, underlining the maxim that neighbouring nations are “dependent on each other”.

In a wide-ranging interview Mr Jaishankar touched on Russia’s war on Ukraine and Delhi’s potential peacemaker role in that conflict, as well as Iran leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s remark, the war in Gaza, and a flurry of foreign visits in the first 100 days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term.

“What happens is their internal matter. Bangladesh is our neighbour and the relationship, on our part, is something we want to keep stable. We have good trade… our people-to-people ties are good… I want to keep the relationship that way,” Mr Jaishankar said on the Bangladesh crisis.

Bangladesh battled civil unrest and violence last month – the result of a student-led movement against quota in government jobs – that forced then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign. Ms Hasina fled Dhaka in a military aircraft to land at an Air Force base near Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.

She was expected to proceed to London to claim political asylum but British Home Office sources told NDTV its rules do not allow people to travel to that country to seek asylum or temporary refuge.

READ | What Are Ex Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina’s Plans? India Says…

For now, Ms Hasina is believed to be in the custody of Indian intelligence agencies.

Last month Mr Jaishankar told Parliament Ms Hasina’s office had requested permission to flee Dhaka for Delhi “at very short notice”. At an all-party briefing he said the Indian government was prepared to give Ms Hasina time to decide on her next steps, which could include political retirement.

READ | Want Good Ties With India But On Basis Of “Equality”: Md Yunus

Last week Nobel laureate Md Yunus – who leads an interim government – said his country too wants to maintain its previous good relationship with India, but that these ties should reflect “fairness and equality”. Mr Yunus said he had received a congratulatory phone call from Prime Minister Modi.

“We want the world to recognise Bangladesh as a respected democracy,” the 84-year-old, who opted for a ‘Chief Advisor’ title rather than ‘Prime Minister’, said in his first address to his nation.

READ | “Stay Silent In India Till…”: Md Yunus’ Message To Sheikh Hasina

For Ms Hasina, the Chief Advisor had stern warning, demanding she must remain silent to prevent compromising the two countries’ relationship till her extradition is sought. “If India wants to keep her till Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,” he said.

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New Delhi:

The political churn in Bangladesh is that country’s “internal matter” but India is keen to continue what was a stable relationship, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told NDTV Tuesday afternoon, underlining the maxim that neighbouring nations are “dependent on each other”.

In a wide-ranging interview Mr Jaishankar touched on Russia’s war on Ukraine and Delhi’s potential peacemaker role in that conflict, as well as Iran leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s remark, the war in Gaza, and a flurry of foreign visits in the first 100 days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term.

“What happens is their internal matter. Bangladesh is our neighbour and the relationship, on our part, is something we want to keep stable. We have good trade… our people-to-people ties are good… I want to keep the relationship that way,” Mr Jaishankar said on the Bangladesh crisis.

Bangladesh battled civil unrest and violence last month – the result of a student-led movement against quota in government jobs – that forced then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign. Ms Hasina fled Dhaka in a military aircraft to land at an Air Force base near Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad.

She was expected to proceed to London to claim political asylum but British Home Office sources told NDTV its rules do not allow people to travel to that country to seek asylum or temporary refuge.

READ | What Are Ex Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina’s Plans? India Says…

For now, Ms Hasina is believed to be in the custody of Indian intelligence agencies.

Last month Mr Jaishankar told Parliament Ms Hasina’s office had requested permission to flee Dhaka for Delhi “at very short notice”. At an all-party briefing he said the Indian government was prepared to give Ms Hasina time to decide on her next steps, which could include political retirement.

READ | Want Good Ties With India But On Basis Of “Equality”: Md Yunus

Last week Nobel laureate Md Yunus – who leads an interim government – said his country too wants to maintain its previous good relationship with India, but that these ties should reflect “fairness and equality”. Mr Yunus said he had received a congratulatory phone call from Prime Minister Modi.

“We want the world to recognise Bangladesh as a respected democracy,” the 84-year-old, who opted for a ‘Chief Advisor’ title rather than ‘Prime Minister’, said in his first address to his nation.

READ | “Stay Silent In India Till…”: Md Yunus’ Message To Sheikh Hasina

For Ms Hasina, the Chief Advisor had stern warning, demanding she must remain silent to prevent compromising the two countries’ relationship till her extradition is sought. “If India wants to keep her till Bangladesh wants her back, the condition would be that she has to keep quiet,” he said.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

The Bangladesh interim government’s foreign affairs advisor Mohammed Touhid Hossain, has said that as cases mount against Sheikh Hasina, his country could consider seeking the extradition of the former premier but that would create an “embarrassing situation for the Indian government.”

In an exclusive interview to Reuters TV in Dhaka, Hossain said that “since there are so many cases” against Hasina in Bangladesh, the country’s home and law ministries could make the request to extradite her.

Also read | With Hasina in exile, a rival family is set to take centre stage in Bangladesh

“Her staying in Delhi, in India, the question comes that…there are so many cases [against Hasina] that could be… again some speculating, I am not a person right to answer this, if there is a request from there [Ministry of Home and Ministry of Law] we have to ask for her, you know, return to Bangladesh. If there is a demand from there, that creates an embarrassing situation for the Indian government. So I think the Indian government knows this and I am sure they will take care of it”, Mr. Hossain told Reuters TV.

Sheikh Hasina had arrived in India on August 5, following an uprising led by students against her that turned violent. As per the Dhaka Tribune, a complaint has been lodged against Ms. Hasina and 24 others in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands for allegedly violating human rights.

The Bangladeshi media outlet said that there are multiple cases filed against Hasina.

Further, Mr. Hossain, the foreign affairs advisor in Bangladesh’s interim government led by Mohammad Yunus stated that the Nobel Laureate is “very unhappy” about the way the statements are coming from India, from the former Prime Minister and he had conveyed this to the Indian envoy in a meeting.

“Professor Yunus is very unhappy about the way the statements are coming from India, from the former Prime Minister. He is quite unhappy about this and I have conveyed this to the High Commissioner [of India],” Mr. Hossain said in the interview to Reuters TV.

“I have also told the press that we have conveyed this because we believe in transparent relations. So whatever actually is there, unless there are some, there are some secret points could be there. Otherwise, we want to make things public. And we have – I have just told him about the displeasure of the chief adviser, and let us hope that they take care of it,” he told Reuters TV in an interview.

Regarding the possibility of elections in the violence-hit country, Mr. Hossain said there will be more clarity on the timeline by September.

“All my colleagues in the council of advisors, they are extremely busy with bringing back normalcy”, he said adding, “I think from September, things will, normalcy and normal way of functioning will start.”

On the issue of giving refuge to Rohingyas, Hossain underscored that Bangladesh has “done more than its share” and is “not in a position to allow any more Rohingyas to enter”.

He said that other countries, including India should “take charge on that.”

“We are not in a position to allow any more Rohingyas to enter. It’s a humanitarian issue that involves the entire world, not only Bangladesh. We have done more than our share, and the world should take charge of that,” Mr. Hossain said.

Other countries “should put pressure through appropriate countries on the Arakan Army, who is the main actor in Rakhine state now to ensure that this does not happen, because we are not in a position,” Mr. Hossain told Reuters TV.

“Well, India is a very large country, if they want to take some, it’s fine. We have taken a million, let them take 200,000, I don’t mind. But the goal is their repatriation to their country,” Mr. Hossain said.

As per a report in the Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh’s interim government has cancelled the passports of Sheikh Hasina, her advisers, former cabinet members, and all members of the 12th national parliament.

The authorities have also revoked diplomatic passports for their spouses and children have also been revoked with immediate effect, the Bangladesh publication reported.

Bangladesh is facing a fluid political situation with Sheikh Hasina, tendering her resignation from her post on August 5 in the wake of mounting protests. Hasina, who fled Bangladesh for India in a military aircraft on August 5, is currently staying in India.

The protests, led majorly by students demanding an end to a quota system for government jobs, took the shape of anti-government protests.

On August 8, Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus was sworn in as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government. 17 members of Bangladesh’s interim government took their oaths at a ceremony in Dhaka.

File photo of deposed Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called on Tuesday (August 13, 2024) for action against those involved in “killings and vandalism” in the country last month, her first comments since violent protests forced her to flee to India.

Around 300 people died in the demonstrations that began as protests against employment quotas but spiralled into a movement seeking Ms. Hasina’s overthrow.

Ms. Hasina’s statement, issued on X through her son, came hours after a court ordered a probe into her role in the death of a grocery shop owner during the protests.

Many people died “in the name of revolution” in July, Ms. Hasina said.

“I demand that those involved in these killings and vandalism be properly investigated and the culprits be identified and punished accordingly,” she said.

Other members of her government also face criminal action, with former law minister Anisul Huq and Ms. Hasina’s adviser Salman F Rahman arrested for allegedly “instigating” the murder of two people, police said on Tuesday (August 13, 2024).

The case against Ms. Hasina — the first following the protests — was filed by Amir Hamza and accepted by Dhaka’s chief metropolitan magistrate’s court after a hearing, Hamza’s lawyer Anwarul Islam said, adding that police have been ordered to investigate.

Six others accused in the case include Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of Ms. Hasina’s Awami League party, former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and senior police officials.

Hamza alleged grocer Abu Saeed was hit by a bullet while crossing the street on July 19 as police fired on protesters in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area.

The complainant blamed Ms. Hasina, who had called for strong action to quell the violence, for the shooting.

Hamza said he was not related to Saeed but approached the court because Saeed’s family could not afford to file the case.

“I am the first ordinary citizen who showed the courage to take this legal step against Sheikh Hasina for her crimes. I will see the case to an end,” Hamza told Reuters.

Ms. Hasina could not be immediately reached for comment. Quader’s phone was switched off, while Kamal did not answer his phone when Reuters tried to reach him.

Bangladeshi student leader Nahid Islam, now part of the interim government, said recently that Ms. Hasina must face trial for the killings during her term.

Ms. Hasina plans to return to Bangladesh when the caretaker government decides on holding elections, her son has said.