Sheikh Hasina Seeks New Passport to Return to Bangladesh: December Comeback Plan Explained

The Sheikh Hasina return to Bangladesh took its clearest step yet on Monday, November 9, 2026, when the ousted prime minister formally requested a new passport and national identity card so she can come back from self-imposed exile in India. According to a letter seen by Reuters, it is her first such communication since she fled Bangladesh in 2024, and it signals that she intends to act on her plan to return in December — more than two years after a deadly student-led uprising ended her long rule. The move raises the prospect of fresh political and legal tensions in a country where her party is now banned, and where a war-crimes court has sentenced her to death in her absence.

Sheikh Hasina return to Bangladesh: what the passport letter asks for

Hasina's lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers wrote to Preeti Rahman, the acting high commissioner at Bangladesh's embassy in Delhi, asking for the applications to be processed expeditiously. The letter cited the reported revocation of her existing Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card (NID) by the Interim Government and other authorities, and asked that a new passport and identity card be issued on the basis of her Bangladeshi nationality and in accordance with obligations arising under international human rights instruments. Rahman in Delhi and spokespeople for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters.

Why Hasina wants to return — and the death sentence waiting for her

Hasina has told Reuters she plans to return to surrender before a court, and her aides said on Monday that the date would be announced once various formalities were completed. That is a striking pledge, because the legal jeopardy she faces at home is extreme. Bangladesh's war-crimes court sentenced her to death in November 2025 in her absence for ordering a deadly crackdown on the student-led uprising that toppled her government. She has denied the charges from exile. A return to surrender before a court would therefore put her directly into the hands of the justice system that convicted her — a gamble that underlines how determined she appears to be to come home rather than remain in exile indefinitely.

• Hasina ruled Bangladesh for 20 years as prime minister across multiple terms before fleeing in August 2024
• Her Awami League was the country's largest party before it was banned following her fall
• Many of her party colleagues have been jailed or are in self-imposed exile in India or elsewhere
• She has told Reuters she plans to return to surrender before a court
• Her aides say the return date will be announced once formalities are completed

What a Hasina return would mean for Bangladesh

A return in December would land in a country still trying to restore stability after more than two years of upheaval. Having ruled for two decades, Hasina still enjoys support among sections of the population, and her reappearance could sharpen political divisions just as the government in Dhaka seeks to steady the country. Her Awami League remains banned, and many of her closest colleagues are in jail or in exile, so the political landscape she would return to is very different from the one she left. At the same time, her supporters argue that her absence has left a vacuum, and her camp clearly believes that a physical return — even one that begins with surrendering to a court — is the way to reassert her presence in Bangladeshi politics.

What the return could mean for India-Bangladesh relations

The episode also reaches beyond Bangladesh's borders. Ties between Dhaka and New Delhi deteriorated sharply after India gave Hasina refuge following her flight in 2024, and her continued presence in India has been a running sore in the relationship. A return to Bangladesh could therefore improve the strained ties between the two neighbours, removing one of the biggest irritants between them. That may be part of the calculation on all sides: for Dhaka, her departure would close a long-running dispute; for New Delhi, it would ease a diplomatic headache; and for Hasina herself, it would end more than two years of exile.

What happens next in the Sheikh Hasina return

1. Bangladesh's embassy in Delhi considers the passport and identity card applications, which her lawyers asked to be processed expeditiously
2. Hasina's aides announce a return date once the formalities are completed
3. Hasina travels to Bangladesh, where she has said she plans to surrender before a court
4. Dhaka responds — the interim authorities and Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's office have not yet commented on the request

Sheikh Hasina return to Bangladesh: frequently asked questions

The letter to the Bangladesh embassy in Delhi is only a request for documents, not yet a return. But it is the first formal step Hasina has taken toward coming home since she fled in 2024, and the first time she has put her December plan in writing. Whether the passport is issued, and what happens when she lands, will decide whether this becomes the most dramatic political comeback in Bangladesh's recent history — or a return that ends in a courtroom.