Sheikh Hasina asks Bangladesh mission in Delhi for new passport to go home

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has applied for a fresh passport and identity card through Bangladesh’s mission in Delhi so that she can return home, Reuters reported on 9 November. It is her clearest step yet towards ending more than two years of exile in India.

Her lawyers at Matrix Chambers in London wrote to Preeti Rahman, Bangladesh’s acting high commissioner in Delhi. The letter said her old passport and identity card had reportedly been revoked by the interim government and other authorities. It asked for new documents to be issued quickly, on the basis of her citizenship and of international human rights obligations.

Neither the acting high commissioner nor the office of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka responded to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Why it matters

Ms. Hasina has told Reuters that she plans to return in December to surrender before a court. Her aides said the date would be announced once the formalities were done.

In November 2025, Bangladesh’s war-crimes tribunal sentenced her to death in her absence. It found her responsible for ordering a deadly crackdown on the student-led uprising that ended her rule in August 2024. She denies the charges.

Her party, the Awami League, was once the country’s largest but has since been banned. Many of its leaders are in jail or abroad.

The India angle

Ms. Hasina, who ruled Bangladesh for 20 years across several terms, fled to India in August 2024. Relations between Delhi and Dhaka worsened sharply after India gave her refuge. Her return could ease that strain, but it could also deepen political divisions inside Bangladesh.