NEW DELHI, July 10 (Reuters) - Ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, facing a death sentence back home where her party is banned, told Reuters she and senior party colleagues plan to return from exile in India around December and surrender.
The South Asian nation's longest-serving leader said she and members of her Awami League aim to return voluntarily to the country they fled two years ago and present themselves in court, testing Bangladesh's handling of its most prominent political opponent.
"They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me," Hasina, 78, said in the nearly hour-long telephone interview late on Thursday and into Friday.
"Still, I have to go," she said. "My party leaders and workers are being subjected to tremendous repression. If death comes, I want it to come on my own soil, where my parents are buried and where their blood was shed."
BANGLADESH-INDIA TIES STRAINED BY EXILE
Hasina fled Bangladesh in 2024 after protests ended her 20 years as prime minister across multiple terms. The country's war-crimes court sentenced her in November to death in her absence for ordering a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising. She has denied the charges from exile.
A return could sharpen political divisions in the garment-export powerhouse as the government in Dhaka seeks to restore stability after two years of upheaval. On the other hand, it could improve strained ties with India, which deteriorated sharply after New Delhi gave her refuge.
Bangladesh has repeatedly urged India to extradite her.
Hasina, who has fielded written questions from news outlets but not previously given an interview during her exile, said she has not consulted with any foreign government on whether or when to return.
This is the first time she has set out a timetable for her return, said she plans to surrender or said other exiled Awami League leaders would do so. Among them, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal also faces a death sentence. Reuters could not contact the other party members or establish where they were.
The authorities in Dhaka "want to take me back, they are repeatedly sending letters to India seeking to have me sent back", she said. "I will go myself."
Spokespeople for the Bangladesh government did not respond to requests for comment on Hasina's remarks.
India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment. In April, the ministry said it was examining Bangladesh's request to extradite her and that it wanted to "engage constructively with the new government and further strengthen bilateral ties".
ONETIME DEMOCRACY CHAMPION ACCUSED OF CRUSHING DISSENT
Hasina was a dominant figure in Bangladesh for half a century after being thrust into the spotlight by the assassination of her father, an independence leader, and much of her family in a military coup.
She fought for democracy early on and was credited with turning around the economy of the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million, but her long rule generated accusations that her government had crushed dissent and dismantled democratic checks and balances — allegations she denies.
The crackdown that led to her downfall killed as many as 1,400 people, according to a U.N. report.
"Cases have been filed against almost all of our leaders and workers, and many of them are in hiding," Hasina told Reuters from her exile home in Delhi. "So I said that this time I am returning home, and one day, all of you should come. All together, we will all surrender in court."
She declined to give a date for her return or say exactly when she would surrender or to what court.
"I believe in justice and I feel that once proceedings start, it will be clear to the people how farcical the court is — and that I want to prove it."
'LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE,' HASINA SAYS
Many Awami League workers have faced arrest, legal cases and physical attacks since her government was toppled, according to media reports and government officials.
Hasina said she had not been in touch with Dhaka over her plans to return. "Democracy, voting rights, the political rights of the Awami League and justice are not subjects for secret talks."
She said she was not worried about jail time, noting that she had been arrested several times before.
After returning from exile in 1981 following her father's assassination, she was detained repeatedly during campaigns against military rule. She was jailed again in 2007 by a military-backed caretaker government on corruption charges before being freed and winning elections in 2008.
Leading her to flee this time, she said, were threats on her life as crowds advanced towards her residence.
"When a government works for a long time, mistakes can happen — no government is above error," she said. "But the right to judge the good and bad, the right and wrong of a government belongs to the people. I leave that judgment to the people."
Hasina said she has held online meetings covering 125 of Bangladesh's 300 parliamentary constituencies as part of efforts to reorganise the Awami League.
"They may have convicted me, and I may not be able to contest elections," she said. "But why should they suspend the Awami League? If we have done badly, let the people decide."
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; Additional reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by William Mallard)
