Hasina requests new passport to return home

Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked for a new passport to enable her return to Bangladesh. Her legal team emailed a request to the Bangladeshi diplomatic mission in New Delhi on Monday. The letter asks the top diplomat to issue a passport and a national identity card. Hasina was forced from power in a mass uprising in August 2024. She is currently living in exile in India.

Abu Obaidha Arin, a counsel for Hasina, described the request as a key move toward her return. He stated that Hasina looks forward to reclaiming her fundamental rights as a citizen. Her previous documents were revoked by the former government. Arin told the Associated Press that Hasina is determined to be back in Bangladesh by December. He added that she will return home without fail.

The current Bangladesh government has previously dismissed the need for new identification documents. Instead, officials have pushed for her extradition from India. Junior Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir spoke to reporters in Dhaka on Thursday. He said the country wants Hasina handed over under an active extradition treaty. He labeled her a terrorist and a fugitive. India has declined to hand her over so far.

Hasina was removed from office after student-led protests grew into a nationwide movement. The military sent her to India on August 5, 2024. A special tribunal in 2025 sentenced her to death for crimes against humanity. The court ruled she ordered a crackdown that killed hundreds and injured thousands. The United Nations estimates that nearly 1,400 people died during the unrest. Hasina denies any wrongdoing and has challenged the legitimacy of the trial.

An interim government led Bangladesh following her ouster. It held a national election in February. The election rules barred Hasina’s Awami League party from competing. Tarique Rahman, the son of a longtime political rival, won the election in a landslide. He now leads the government seeking Hasina’s extradition. The government did not immediately provide comment on the passport request.