Bangladesh prosecutor says ousted premier Hasina has exhausted legal options against death sentence

Chief prosecutor rejects passport request for ousted premier, says she must seek extradition from India to return home

Bangladesh’s chief prosecutor at the International Crimes Tribunal said Tuesday that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had exhausted her legal options and must face execution of her death sentence for crimes against humanity.

“Sheikh Hasina has no legal option left but to face execution of her death sentence,” Chief Prosecutor Md Aminul Islam told reporters at the tribunal in Dhaka. “If she genuinely wanted to return to Bangladesh, she would have come back while the trial was ongoing and faced the case,” he said.

He added that Hasina could have appealed within 30 days of the verdict’s publication.

Aminul rejected reports that a London-based legal chamber had sought a Bangladeshi passport or travel document for Hasina, citing restrictions under the Bangladesh Passport Order, 1973, on issuing passports to convicted individuals.

He questioned whether elements within her Awami League party were using her as a “trump card” to destabilise Bangladesh. “If she genuinely wants to return, she should make a written request to the Indian government seeking her return under the extradition treaty,” he said.

Read: Bangladesh sentences to death seven key aides of ousted premier Hasina

Hasina has remained in India since fleeing Bangladesh in August 2024 following a mass uprising. Her legal status in India remains “unclear,” according to a report published Tuesday by Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Waadaa.

Last November, Hasina was sentenced to death by the Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal for crimes against humanity over her role in a brutal crackdown during the 2024 uprising that ousted her government.

At least 1,400 people were killed and thousands were injured in the uprising, according to the United Nations, which attributed many of the deaths to Hasina’s security forces and supporters of her Awami League party.