Sheikh Hasina Asks for a New Passport in Clearest Sign Yet of a Bangladesh Return

Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked for a new Bangladeshi passport and national identity card so she can return home from exile in India, according to a letter seen by Reuters. Reuters said the request was her first such communication since she fled Bangladesh in 2024, and the clearest sign yet that she intends to come back.

Her lawyers at the London firm Matrix Chambers wrote to Preeti Rahman, the acting high commissioner at Bangladesh's embassy in Delhi. The letter said Hasina's existing passport and identity card had reportedly been revoked by the interim government and other authorities. It asked for the applications to be processed without delay, on the basis of her Bangladeshi nationality and of obligations under international human rights instruments.

"In view of the reported revocation of her existing Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card (NID) by the Interim Government and other authorities, 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, in the passage quoted by Reuters.

Hasina has told Reuters she plans to return in December to surrender before a court. Her aides said on Monday that the exact date would be announced once the formalities were completed. She ruled Bangladesh for a total of 20 years across multiple terms as prime minister.

Dhaka says no passport

The government in Dhaka has already signalled it will refuse. The Business Standard, reporting the Reuters letter on November 9, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir told reporters on November 5 that the government would not issue Hasina a passport or a travel pass. Kobir said she would be brought back under the extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India.

"We want her handed over. In accordance with the extradition treaty between the governments of Bangladesh and India, this criminal must be handed over," Kobir said, as reported on November 5.

Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman said on November 8 that the government would take all necessary legal steps to bring her back under the prisoner exchange treaty.

A death sentence waiting at home

Hasina's return would put her in front of the court that has already condemned her. Bangladesh's war crimes court sentenced her to death in November last year, in her absence, for ordering a deadly crackdown on the student led uprising that ended her rule. She has denied the charges from exile. Her Awami League party was banned after her fall.

Reuters said Preeti Rahman in Delhi and spokespeople for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

One caution sits inside the reporting itself. A separate report by The Business Standard, citing Prothom Alo, said the Delhi mission received an email from Matrix Chambers and forwarded it to Dhaka, and diplomatic sources said the email contained no authorisation document, so whether it was made on Hasina's behalf could not be established from the email alone. The Reuters account of the letter stands as the lead reporting, with that discrepancy unresolved.