Staff Correspondent

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir on Monday said Bangladesh wants former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who faces the death penalty, to be returned from India under the existing extradition treaty, saying the country does not issue passports to “convicted and fled terrorists”.

However, he did not comment on whether the government will provide any one-way travel permit to Hasina, who reportedly wants to return to Bangladesh by December this year.

"She (Hasina) is not coming to visit her maternal grandparents. She has been sentenced to death. Bangladesh doesn't provide passports to terrorists," the State Minister told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when his attention was drawn to reports on Hasina’s passport request.

Kobir referred to the existing extradition treaty with India and said Hasina needs to be handed over under the treaty.

He said there is no scope now for “staging drama” in the name of return to the country using the passport issue.

“If she truly wishes to return, there is a specific legal process for doing so. An extradition treaty exists between Bangladesh and India; she should ask the Indian government to hand her over to Bangladesh under the terms of that treaty. She should return, surrender to the court, and serve her sentence,” he said.

Hasina requested a new passport on Monday to facilitate her return from exile two years after she was ousted in a mass uprising.

In a letter seen by The Associated Press that was emailed to the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, Hasina’s counsel urged the top diplomat to take necessary action to provide her with a passport and national identity card.

The letter, sent by London-based law firm Matrix Chambers, asked the mission for the application to be processed “expeditiously” on the basis of Hasina’s Bangladeshi nationality and in accordance with “obligations arising under international human rights instruments.”

A diplomatic source told UNB that the letter, sent via email and addressed to Acting High Commissioner Preeti Rahman, was shared with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Hasina’s application is ridiculous, State Minister Kobir said, criticising the British law firm over its involvement in the matter.

“Know your client. Don’t run after her looted money from the people of Bangladesh. Exercise some ethical and moral boundaries. And if you don’t have those boundaries, you will be shamed all over the world,” he said.

Hasina, ousted in a mass uprising in 2024, has told The Associated Press that she remains committed to returning to Bangladesh from exile in India next month, despite being sentenced to death over her government's deadly crackdown on protesters.

“If death is my destiny, I would rather die on the soil of my own country, among my own people,” she told AP in response to questions by email. “So, I will return to Bangladesh. That decision has not changed.”

Hasina left the country after student-led protests forced her from power and has remained there ever since.

“Is she coming to visit her in-laws’ residence in Rangpur that we need to give her a passport so she can make that visit? We have an active extradition treaty with India. You do not need a passport to arrest terrorists and criminals. This is a matter of handover, and a judicial process is in place. Should we treat her like an ordinary commercial traveller and tell her to come and visit her in-laws’ residence?” State Minister Kobir told reporters recently.

In 2025, a special tribunal sentenced her to death for crimes against humanity, ruling that she was responsible for ordering the crackdown, which left hundreds of people dead and thousands of others injured.

Bangladesh has repeatedly sought Hasina’s extradition, but India has declined to hand her over. She first announced in August her intention to return in December.

The issue was also raised by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman during his meeting with Trivedi in Dhaka in August.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs subsequently said that Bangladesh’s request was being examined in line with established procedures.

On October 3, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi said Hasina was not brought to India by the Indian Air Force or the Indian Army. He said the legal process concerning Bangladesh’s request for her extradition was ongoing and that no timeframe could be given as the courts were involved.

“To give you a straight answer, again and again, the government of India, through the Spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), has replied to this that there is a process, and the process involves legality, and it is well structured. So, as far as that is concerned, the process is on,” Trivedi said.

Trivedi said Hasina was still the Prime Minister of Bangladesh when she arrived in India, and New Delhi had to respond to the situation as a neighbouring country.

“At that point in time, Hasina was still the prime minister of Bangladesh. We had hardly any choice on that. It was our duty as a neighbour to accept the reality of life, because situations are such where at times you are not prepared for it,” the Indian envoy said.

Trivedi also referred to the circumstances under which Hasina came to India after leaving Bangladesh in August 2024, saying the Indian authorities were not prepared for the situation.

“Going back to history, Hasina Ji was not brought to India by the Indian Air Force or Indian Army,” he said, referring to the circumstances surrounding her departure from Bangladesh.

He said the situation unfolded because of “tragic circumstances” in Bangladesh at the time, adding that such circumstances should never be repeated anywhere in the world, where innocent people get killed, regardless of which part of the world it is.

He questioned what India's alternative could have been under those circumstances. “What was our choice? If you would have said that no, we are not going to accept, we don’t give landing permission. Things would have been I don’t know what,” Trivedi said.