Sheikh Hasina's Passport Move Puts Bangladesh Return And India In Focus

Ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina has asked Bangladesh’s embassy in New Delhi to issue her a fresh passport and national identity card, taking a step towards her plan to return to Bangladesh in December, more than two years after she fled in 2024.

The request was made in a letter sent by her London-based lawyers, Matrix Chambers, to Preeti Rahman, the acting high commissioner at the Bangladesh embassy. Hasina has said she intends to return and surrender before a court. Her aides said the date would be announced once formalities were completed. The application does not establish that she has secured permission to travel.

Lawyers cite nationality and human rights obligations

In the letter seen by Reuters, Hasina’s lawyers said her existing Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card had reportedly been revoked by the interim government and other authorities. They cited her nationality and international human rights obligations.

“I respectfully request that you take the necessary steps to issue a new Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card for our client,” the lawyers wrote. They also asked that the applications be processed “expeditiously”. Reuters reported that the embassy’s acting high commissioner and spokespeople for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had not immediately responded to requests for comment.

Hasina has been in India since leaving Dhaka in August 2024. Her aides said the return date would be announced after formalities were completed, leaving open whether the passport request is intended to support a voluntary return.

Dhaka insists on extradition

Bangladesh’s government says it wants Hasina handed over by India under the two countries’ extradition treaty, rather than issuing travel documents for her return. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir said on November 5 that a passport was not needed for Hasina's return through extradition.

“We want Hasina to be handed over. She will be handed over,” Kobir told reporters, according to The Daily Star. He said an extradition treaty was in force and argued that returning a person sought through judicial proceedings did not require a passport.

Bangladesh has repeatedly sought Hasina's extradition, but India has not handed her over. In July 2026, India's Ministry of External Affairs said the request was "under examination", taking into account the legalities and judicial processes involved. The two countries' extradition treaty therefore remains central to Dhaka's efforts to secure her return.

Death sentence shadows planned return

Hasina’s return plan comes amid the legal consequences of the 2024 crackdown. Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal sentenced her to death in absentia in November 2025 for crimes against humanity, ruling that she was responsible for ordering the crackdown on protesters. Hasina has denied wrongdoing, rejected the verdict and challenged the trial’s legitimacy.

The UN Human Rights Office estimated that as many as 1,400 people may have been killed between July 1 and August 15, 2024, with thousands more injured during the crackdown. The AP reported that thousands more were injured and that Hasina could face arrest on arrival. In an interview with AP, Hasina said she was aware that returning could result in her arrest, imprisonment or death. “If death is my destiny, I would rather die on the soil of my own country, among my own people,” she said. She maintained that she was determined to return despite the risks.

Hasina served as prime minister from 1996 to 2001 and again from 2009 until her removal in August 2024. Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus then led an interim administration. Tarique Rahman won February’s election under the interim administration, while Hasina’s Awami League was barred from contesting and remains banned. AP reported that senior party leaders have been arrested or driven into exile. In the AP interview, she said she was aware that she could be arrested, imprisoned or killed after returning, but maintained that she could not watch the situation in Bangladesh from abroad. She also said she did not need a foreign power’s approval to return.

While Hasina's lawyers seek documents to facilitate her return, Dhaka continues to insist that she be handed over through the extradition treaty, leaving the route of her proposed return contested.