Ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina applied for a new passport and National Identity Card (NID) on Monday (November 9) from India, according to a letter seen by Reuters. This marks the first such communication since she fled the country in 2024.
The application is being seen as the clearest step taken by Hasina toward executing her plan to return to Bangladesh in December, following the end of her long rule more than two years ago in a bloody mass uprising.
Hasina told Reuters that she wishes to return to the country to surrender before the court. Her associates stated on Monday that the date of her return will be announced once various formalities are completed.
In November last year, Bangladesh’s war crimes tribunal sentenced Hasina to death in absentia over allegations of ordering a lethal crackdown to suppress a student-led movement in 2024. However, she has denied these allegations.
Through the London-based Matrix Chambers, Hasina’s lawyers wrote in a letter to Priti Rahman, the acting High Commissioner at the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi: “It is understood that the interim government and other authorities have revoked her existing Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card (NID). In these circumstances, we respectfully request that necessary steps be taken to issue a new Bangladeshi passport and National Identity Card for our client.”
The letter requested that the applications be processed “with speed,” citing her Bangladeshi citizenship and “obligations arising from various international human rights treaties.”
Neither Priti Rahman in Delhi nor spokespersons for Prime Minister Tarique Rahman in Dhaka immediately responded to requests for comment.
