Bangladesh has challenged ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina to seek extradition from India if she is serious about returning home, in a sharp response to her request for a new passport. The Hasina extradition challenge came as Dhaka reviews her application for fresh travel documents.
Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters on Monday that the authorities were looking into Hasina’s request for a new passport, noting that she was a convicted offender who had taken refuge abroad. He said the government had already written to India seeking her return through the extradition treaty.
“The legal basis of the application, whether it followed due process, and whether there is a right to apply for a passport — all those matters are being reviewed,” Ahmed said. “We had already sent a letter to that country (India) seeking her extradition through due process.”
Hasina has vowed to return to Bangladesh in December, where she was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity over the 2024 crackdown on protesters. She has told AFP in an email that she was “fully aware” she faced being hanged. Her British lawyers have asked for her documents to be renewed after the “reported revocation” of her passport.
Dhaka calls the passport bid a stunt
The government’s response was blunt. Md Aminul Islam, the chief prosecutor of the court that sentenced Hasina to death in November 2025, dismissed the passport application as “nothing but political stunt”. He said the government believed Hasina had no intention of returning and that her recent activities were political posturing.
Junior foreign minister Humaiun Kobir said she should simply surrender herself to face justice. “Let her tell India: ‘Yes, there is an extradition treaty. Please hand me over. I killed this many people, and I am ready to face the sentence. Please execute me there’,” he told reporters. “She is a thief, a bandit and a terrorist who fled… How could she, having fled, want to come back?”
Kobir had said last week that no passport was needed to bring her back, since her return would come through the extradition treaty. “We want Hasina to be handed over. She will be handed over,” he said.
The Hasina extradition request
The extradition question is not new: Bangladesh first sought her return in December 2024 and renewed the request after she and former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal were sentenced to death in November 2025. Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman said on Sunday that Dhaka had requested her extradition, calling her a “convicted criminal”.
India has acknowledged receiving the requests but has not announced any decision, saying they are being examined through its established processes. Dhaka plans to raise the matter again at a consular dialogue with India on November 17 and 18.
Her lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers wrote to Preeti Rahman, the acting high commissioner at Bangladesh’s embassy in Delhi, asking for a new passport and national identity card. The letter made no mention of when or where she planned to travel, and the high commission said it was not sure whether the request was genuine.
A return that divides Bangladesh
Hasina fled to India on August 5, 2024, after a mass uprising ended her 15-year rule, and has not been seen in public since. She has taken part in online news conferences by telephone. Her continued presence in India has strained ties between Dhaka and New Delhi.
The government of Tarique Rahman, whose party won elections in February in which Hasina’s Awami League was barred from contesting, has said it would ensure she receives due legal process in all cases against her should she return. But her pledge to come back presents a political challenge for Rahman’s government. Many Bangladeshis want to see her hanged, while others fear her return could galvanise her former supporters and trigger a fresh confrontation between rival camps.
Police said on Monday they had arrested 12 people, said to be members of Hasina’s banned Awami League, over a series of petrol bomb attacks this month that caused no casualties. “They are trying to create panic among people,” a Dhaka police spokesman told AFP.
Hasina’s passport bid was the clearest sign yet that she intends to act on her plan to return in December. Sheikh Hasina Passport Bid Signals Return Her government’s challenge now puts the choice back on her: ask India to hand her over under the treaty, or stay in exile. The answer will shape not only her fate but the already strained relationship between Dhaka and New Delhi. Bangladesh’s economy, meanwhile, carries its own pressures, with the country’s external debt nearly tripling over the past decade. Bangladesh External Debt Nearly Triples to $113 Billion
Frequently asked questions
What did Bangladesh tell Sheikh Hasina?
Bangladesh challenged Hasina to seek extradition from India if she is serious about returning home, while reviewing her request for a new passport. Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said Dhaka had already sent India a letter seeking her extradition through due process.
Why does Hasina want a new passport?
Her British lawyers have asked for her passport and national identity card to be renewed after the “reported revocation” of her passport. She has vowed to return to Bangladesh in December to surrender before a court, though she faces a death sentence for crimes against humanity.
What is the extradition treaty?
Bangladesh and India have an extradition treaty under which Dhaka is seeking Hasina’s handover. Bangladesh first sought her return through a diplomatic note in December 2024 and renewed the request after she was sentenced to death in November 2025. India says the request is under legal review.
Has India agreed to hand her over?
No. India has acknowledged receiving Bangladesh’s extradition requests but has not announced any decision. Its foreign ministry says the requests are being examined as part of its established processes.
What happens next?
Dhaka plans to raise the extradition of Hasina and others at a consular dialogue with India on November 17 and 18. Her passport application is being reviewed by the Bangladeshi authorities, and the government has said it will ensure due legal process in all cases against her if she returns.
