Ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina has formally requested a new passport and national identity card so she can return home from self-imposed exile in India, her lawyers have said — the clearest sign yet that she intends to act on her plan to come back in December.
The request was made in a letter from her lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers to Preeti Rahman, acting high commissioner at Bangladesh’s embassy in Delhi. Reuters, which has seen the letter, reported the request on Monday. It is Hasina’s first such communication since she fled Bangladesh in 2024, after a deadly student-led uprising ended her long rule.
“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 letter said. It asked for the applications to be processed “expeditiously”, on the basis of her Bangladeshi nationality and in accordance with “obligations arising under international human rights instruments”.
Hasina has told Reuters she plans to return to surrender before a court. Her aides said on Monday that the date would be announced once various formalities had been completed. 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. She has denied the charges from exile.
The request raises the prospect of fresh political and legal tensions in a country where her party, the Awami League, is now banned. Many of her party colleagues have been jailed or are in self-imposed exile in India or elsewhere. Having ruled Bangladesh for 20 years as prime minister across multiple terms, Hasina still enjoys support among sections of the population, and a return could sharpen political divisions as the government in Dhaka seeks to restore stability after more than two years of upheaval.
It could also improve Bangladesh’s strained ties with India, which deteriorated sharply after New Delhi gave her refuge. Neither Rahman in Delhi nor spokespeople for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka had responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
The account of the letter rests on Reuters, which says it has seen the document. The Bangladeshi authorities have not confirmed that the passport and identity card will be issued.
Sources: Reuters, “Hasina seeks new passport in clearest sign of Bangladesh return”, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/hasina-seeks-new-passport-clearest-sign-bangladesh-return-2026-11-09/
