Bangladesh Outraged Over Hasina's India Press Conference
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed 'outrage' on August 5, 2026, over deposed PM Sheikh Hasina's press conference in New Delhi, saying India permitted the event despite 'concerns conveyed a priori' about bilateral fallout.
- Sheikh Hasina held an audio-only virtual press conference — her first public media interaction since fleeing to India on August 5, 2024 — and declared she is determined to return to Bangladesh in December to put the country on the 'right track.'
- Bangladesh's Foreign Ministry said its 'repeated requests' to extradite Hasina under the 2013 India-Bangladesh Extradition Treaty have not yet elicited a response from New Delhi.
- A special tribunal in Dhaka sentenced Hasina to death in absentia last November for alleged 'crimes against humanity' over her government's brutal crackdown on student-led protests in 2024.
- Bangladesh described the press conference as an 'affront' to its sovereignty and an insult to those who died during the 'July Revolution,' while reiterating its desire for a 'constructive, mutually beneficial' relationship with India.
Why it matters: Bangladesh's extradition requests under the 2013 India-Bangladesh treaty have gone unanswered for months, and India hosting Hasina over Dhaka's advance objections deepens the bilateral freeze. With Hasina sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity, New Delhi is sheltering a figure Dhaka treats as a convicted war criminal.
