NEW DELHI: Bangladesh’s fugitive former leader Sheikh Hasina has vowed to return to her country “this year,” according to an interview published on Sunday, months after she was sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity. Hasina, 78, fled to neighboring India in August 2024 after a student-led uprising ended her 15-year, iron-fisted rule. She has not been seen in public since, except for a rare speech broadcast to a packed press club in New Delhi in January.

Sheikh Hasina said that she doesn't fear death, pointing out the 1975 assassination of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. | World News

Exiled former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina plans to return this year, asserting her fight is for the people's political rights and democracy's restoration. Facing a…