Bangladesh prosecutor says ex-PM Hasina will be executed if she returns

DHAKA

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina speaks as she is sworn in for a fifth term at the Presidential Palace in Dhaka on January 11, 2024. (AFP File Photo)

The Bangladeshi prosecutor who secured the death sentence against ousted leader Sheikh Hasina said on Nov. 10 that she will be executed if she returns home.

Hasina, whose 15-year rule was ended by a mass uprising she tried to crush, has vowed to return in December to Bangladesh, where she was convicted of crimes against humanity over the 2024 crackdown on protesters.

“Sheikh Hasina has no option but to face the execution of the verdict,” Md Aminul Islam told reporters, responding to reports she planned to return from self-imposed exile in neighboring India.

He added that the 79-year-old fugitive had missed the deadline to appeal against her conviction, leaving her with no further legal recourse.

“The statutory appeal period has expired, and no appeal can now be filed,” he said.

The daughter of a revolutionary who led Bangladesh to independence in 1971, Hasina presided over breakneck economic growth, helping transform the South Asian nation of 170 million people from a largely agricultural economy into a global manufacturing hub.

Critics have accused Hasina of jailing political rivals, enacting harsh anti-press laws and overseeing widespread human rights abuses, including the killing of opposition activists.

Her 2024 crackdown left up to 1,400 people dead.

She fled to neighboring India by helicopter in August 2024 and has remained there ever since.