Ousted Bangladesh PM Hasina vows to return home this year

Ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to return to Bangladesh this year, brushing aside a death sentence handed down in absentia and denouncing the ruling as “illegal, unconstitutional and politically motivated.”



Hasina, 78, who fled to India after a student-led uprising ousted her government in August 2024, said in an interview with Indian broadcaster NDTV that she was undeterred by the risk and would overcome "every obstacle and every conspiracy" to return home.



"I want to say clearly: overcoming every obstacle and every conspiracy, I will return to my country this year," Hasina said when asked whether she would come back despite the death sentence. It was the first time she had given a time for her return.



Last November, a Dhaka court sentenced Hasina to death after convicting her of inciting, ordering killings and failing to prevent atrocities during the 2024 unrest.



Rejecting the verdict, she accused Bangladesh's judiciary of being used as "an instrument of political revenge" aimed at eliminating her Awami League party's leadership.



"I do not fear death," she said, adding that past efforts to dismantle her party had failed and would fail again.