Bangladesh has renewed its demand for India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, now sentenced to death in absentia over last year’s brutal crackdown on a student-led uprising that left more than 1,400 people dead, according to the United Nations.
Touhid Hossain, handling foreign affairs for Bangladesh’s interim administration, confirmed that Dhaka sent another formal letter to New Delhi urging the return of the 78-year-old ex-leader, who has been in hiding in India since her government collapsed amid mass protests in August 2024.
On Monday, a special International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka convicted Hasina of crimes against humanity and handed down the death penalty, fulfilling a central promise made by the interim government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry doubled down on its position, arguing that India has an “obligatory responsibility” under a 2013 extradition treaty and warned that sheltering Hasina amounts to “a grave act of unfriendly behaviour”. It added that granting refuge to someone convicted of such crimes is “a travesty of justice for any other country”.
New Delhi has so far kept its response deliberately muted, saying only that it had “noted” the verdict. Despite this, Bangladeshi media reports suggest this is at least the third formal extradition request made to India.
While relations between the two neighbours soured sharply after Hasina’s fall, there are tentative signs of thaw. Bangladesh’s national security adviser Khalilur Rahman attended a regional summit in India this week and met his counterpart Ajit Doval, with reports that an invitation for a reciprocal visit has been extended.
All of this plays out as Bangladesh prepares for its first general election since the uprising. Hasina’s Awami League has been barred from political activity, effectively shutting the door on her formal return, even as her fate now sits squarely at the centre of a tense diplomatic standoff.
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