Bangladesh won’t issue passport to Hasina, we want her to be extradited: State minister

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kobir said on Monday that Bangladesh wants former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who has been sentenced to death, to be extradited from India under the existing bilateral treaty, adding that the country does not issue passports to “convicted and fugitive terrorists”.

However, he declined to say whether the government would consider issuing a one-way travel permit to Hasina, who has reportedly expressed her intention to return to Bangladesh by December this year.

“She has been sentenced to death. Bangladesh does not provide passports to a terrorist,” Kobir told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when asked about Hasina's reported request for a passport.

Referring to the extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India, the state minister said Hasina should be handed over under the agreement.

“We want Hasina to be handed over. She will be handed over. She is a terrorist. She is a fugitive criminal. There is an active extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India,” he said, arguing that there was no need to issue her a passport.

“Is she coming to visit her in-laws' residence in Rangpur that we need to give her a passport for the trip? We have an active extradition treaty with India. You do not need a passport to arrest terrorists and criminals. This is a matter of handover, and a judicial process is in place. Should we treat her like an ordinary commercial traveller and ask her to come and visit her in-laws' residence?” he added.

Hasina, who was ousted in a mass uprising in 2024, has told The Associated Press that she remains determined to return to Bangladesh from India next month, despite being sentenced to death over her government's deadly crackdown on protesters.

“If death is my destiny, I would rather die on the soil of my own country, among my own people,” she told the AP in an email response. “So, I will return to Bangladesh. That decision has not changed.”

Hasina fled to India after student-led protests forced her from power in August 2024 and has remained there since.

In 2025, a Bangladeshi special tribunal sentenced her to death for crimes against humanity, finding her responsible for ordering a crackdown that killed hundreds of people and injured thousands.

Bangladesh has repeatedly requested her extradition, but India has yet to hand her over. Hasina first announced in August that she intended to return to Bangladesh in December.

India says extradition process is ongoing

On October 3, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi said Hasina had not been brought to India by the Indian Air Force or the Indian Army. He also said the legal process concerning Bangladesh's extradition request was ongoing but that no timeline could be given because the matter involved the courts.

“To give you a straight answer, again and again, the government of India, through the spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), has replied that there is a process, and the process involves legality, and it is well structured. So, as far as that is concerned, the process is on,” Trivedi said.

He stressed that the courts were involved and, therefore, “nobody can give you a timeframe”.

Trivedi said Hasina was still Bangladesh's prime minister when she arrived in India, leaving New Delhi with little choice but to respond to the situation as a neighbouring country.

“At that point in time, Hasina was still the prime minister of Bangladesh. We had hardly any choice on that. It was our duty as a neighbour to accept the reality of life, because situations are such where at times you are not prepared for it,” he said.

Referring to the circumstances surrounding Hasina's departure in August 2024, the Indian envoy reiterated that she had not been brought to India by the Indian Air Force or the Indian Army.

He described the situation in Bangladesh at the time as tragic and said such circumstances, in which innocent people lose their lives, should never be repeated anywhere in the world.

Trivedi also questioned what alternative India had under the circumstances.

“What was our choice? If you would have said that no, we are not going to accept, we don't give landing permission. Things would have been I don't know what,” he said.

Bangladesh has repeatedly urged India to extradite Hasina, who has been living in the country since leaving Bangladesh in August 2024.

The issue was also raised by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman during his meeting with Trivedi in Dhaka in August.

India's Ministry of External Affairs subsequently said Bangladesh's request was being examined in accordance with established procedures.