Ousted Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina has applied for a new passport and national identity card (NID) through a legal firm at the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi on Monday, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The move marks her first such contact since she left Bangladesh and sought refuge in India following the 2024 mass uprising.
Hasina’s application is being viewed as a step towards implementing her plan to return to Bangladesh in December. The development comes more than two years after her long rule ended in the mass uprising and while the activities of her political party, the Awami League, remain banned in Bangladesh.
Hasina had previously told Reuters in an email that she wanted to return to Bangladesh and surrender before a court. Her associates said on Monday that the date of her return would be announced after various formalities were completed.
Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Hasina to death in absentia in November last year. The tribunal held her responsible for ordering violent force, including human rights violations, to suppress the student- and public-led mass uprising. Hasina has denied the allegations against her.
Lawyers from London-based Matrix Chambers, acting for Hasina, wrote to Bangladesh’s Acting High Commissioner in Delhi, Priti Rahman, requesting the necessary steps to issue their client with a new Bangladeshi passport and NID.
“In light of reports that the interim government and other authorities have cancelled her existing Bangladeshi passport and national identity card (NID), we respectfully request that the necessary steps be taken to issue our client with a new Bangladeshi passport and national identity card,” the letter said.
The letter also requested that Hasina’s applications be processed swiftly, in line with her Bangladeshi citizenship and obligations set out in “various international human rights treaties and conventions”.
Priti Rahman and Bangladesh government spokespersons in Dhaka did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.