Sheikh Hasina seeks new Bangladeshi passport, identity card as she plans to return

Ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought a new Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card (NID), taking a formal step towards her planned return from India around December, after earlier saying she was prepared to surrender before a court despite facing a possible arrest or death sentence.

According to a report in Reuters, in a letter dated Monday to Preeti Rahman, acting high commissioner at the Bangladesh embassy in Delhi, Hasina’s lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers requested the issuance of fresh identity documents, citing the reported revocation of her existing passport and NID by Bangladesh’s interim government and other authorities.

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“In view of the reported revocation of her existing Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card (NID)...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, as per the news agency.

They asked for the applications to be processed expeditiously, citing Hasina’s Bangladeshi nationality and international human rights obligations. Her aides said the date of her return would be announced once the formalities were completed.

Hasina, 78, had earlier told Reuters that she and senior colleagues from the banned Awami League planned to return around December. She said she would voluntarily surrender before a court and had asked party members to do the same.

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“They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me. Still, I have to go,” she had said, adding that she wanted to return to the country where her parents were buried.

Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia by a war-crimes court in November last year for ordering a deadly crackdown on the student-led uprising that ended her rule. She has denied the charges, calling the proceedings politically motivated.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh is pursuing Hasina’s repatriation through diplomatic channels. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam said the process was being pursued in accordance with established protocols and international norms.

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Dhaka has repeatedly asked India to extradite Hasina. New Delhi has said it is examining the request and intends to engage constructively with Bangladesh’s new government.