File photo of Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
NEW DELHI: Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, living in exile in India for the past two years, on Wednesday said that she would return to her home country by year-end.
"The date of my return will be announced later. But I will return to my people," she said while addressing the media in New Delhi through audio.
Hasina added that she wanted to return to her home country to revive its path of progress.
In the audio message, she demanded that the ban on her party, the Bangladesh Awami League, be lifted, false cases against her and her partymen be dropped, and freedom of speech be restored in Bangladesh.
The audio was released at a media event at a journalists' club in the Indian capital to mark two years since Hasina's ouster from Bangladesh following a protest in 2024.
Bangladesh's Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said last month that Hasina would be arrested on her return as she had already been convicted by a court, adding that the government wanted her extradited from India under the bilateral treaty and had sent reminders after the interim government first sought her extradition.
"We want her back, and we want her to face justice," said the minister, adding that the Bangladesh Awami League party will also face trial.
In November 2025, a special tribunal in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka sentenced Hasina in absentia to death for crimes against humanity during the country's July uprising in 2024.
