Exiled in Hell: How Bangladeshi dictatress Sheikh Hasina evolved into a tyrantess ruining Bangladesh before fleeing into exile after being overthrown

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Sheikh Hasina served as Bangladesh’s 10th Prime Minister, but her premiership was anything but the democratic society that she once sought for the country. In this edition of Exiled in Hell, Bazaar Daily examines Hasina’s rise, fall, and ascension to autocracy.

CURRENT STATUS: EXILED IN INDIA, BANGLADESH IS SEEKING EXTRADITION ORDERS AGAINST HER. HASINA IS WANTED IN BANGLADESH AND ACCORDING TO A PREVIOUS CNN REPORT AN INTERNATIONAL ARREST WARRANT FOR HER CAPTURE WAS ISSUED IN OCTOBER.

Sheikh Hasina (born 28 September 1974) is an exiled ex-Bangladeshi politician who served as the 10th Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024. Her first term saw reduced poverty and other issues in the country; however, despite the way she made it look, the country was marred by political turmoil. She along with her Awami League allies are all looking at hefty charges.

How students led the charge to force their government to do good or to get out

Earlier this year, mass student-led protests over public sector job quotas actually sparked the revolution that resulted in Hasina ‘s overthrow. At the time, the movement hadn’t set its sights on Hasina ‘s overthrow (yet) though the protests quickly evolved into the deadliest scenes of protests and violence Bangladesh had seen since the country’s independence decades earlier in 1971. According to official government tallies, under her orders, more than 700+ deaths were reported, and hundreds more were injured during the government crackdown(s) that followed.

Charges against her

According to the cases against her, which are understood to be plentiful, there are a whopping 152 in total with 135 of them alone for murder, 7 additional for crimes against humanity and genocide, 3 for crimes of abduction, 6 additional for attempted murder, and one additional for an attack on a BNP procession.

Per The Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal, the genocide charges and crimes against humanity charges stem from Hasina and her associates’ roles in the crackdown on the student-led protests that overthrew her from power. Those associates include Hasina; 9 other senior government officials and Awami League officials. The case also includes at least 50 others with hundreds more charges in perhaps one of the most evil regimes the world has ever seen.