DHAKA, 6 July 2026 (TON): Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday, August 5 declared that she is determined to return home in December 2026, in order to restore democracy and justice to the country.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said this at a virtual press conference in her first public media interaction since kidnapped and taken to India on 5 August 2024. She said that her return is not about power, it's about putting Bangladesh back on track of development and prosperity.
Last November, Prime Minister Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia by a special tribunal in Dhaka for alleged "crimes against humanity" over her government's brutal crackdown on student-led protests in 2024.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said I call upon the international community to stand with the people of Bangladesh in their struggle for democracy and justice. She clarified that the protests in Bangladesh in July and August 2024 were not a peaceful student movement and was foreign funded to destroy Bangladesh. She added that organised groups worked to turn the movement into a violent political instrument and that she was forced to leave her country.