Sheikh Hasina to Make First Public Appearance Ahead of Bangladesh Return

Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister, will make her first public appearance in India on Wednesday, August 5. The event, hosted by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of South Asia in New Delhi, comes nearly two years after a student-led uprising ended her 20-year rule. Hasina is expected to speak about her plans to return to Bangladesh in December, despite facing a death sentence.

The program runs from 6 PM to 7:30 PM at the Sir Mark Tully Auditorium on Mathura Road and will be live-streamed. Attendees include her son and former ICT adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy, former Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, and an array of public figures. The panel features cricketer and ex-MP Shakib Al Hasan, counterterrorism analyst Abu Obaidha Arin, and human rights advocates Mahammad Ali Siddique and Shah Md Bakhtiar. Dr. Waiel Awwad, president of FCC South Asia and the International Association of Press Clubs, will chair the proceedings.

Hasina has avoided public events and formal media since arriving in India two years ago. Last month, she told Reuters that she is planning to return to Bangladesh in December and surrender. “They may arrest me on my return, they may even kill me,” she said. “Still, I have to go. 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.” Several Awami League party members plan to return with her.