Sheikh Hasina will return through the legal process, says Law Minister Asaduzzaman

Asked whether ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, toppled in the July mass uprising, will be given any legal opportunity to return home, Law Minister Asaduzzaman has said she will come to Bangladesh through the legal process itself. "On our part, we have done everything that needs to be done in the legal process," he said.

The law minister made the remarks on Saturday noon while answering journalists’ questions after a programme at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in Agargaon, Dhaka.

Asked whether Hasina would be given any legal opportunity, the minister said that when she is extradited under the extradition treaty, that itself will be a legal process.

A journalist referred to a recent BBC report on Hasina’s return to Bangladesh and asked about the legal process. In reply, the minister said, "On our part, we have done everything that needs to be done in the legal process. What they (India) will do is their matter."

Referring to the 1973 Act, the law minister said its section 47(3) states that a person accused of, and convicted of, crimes against humanity cannot claim fundamental rights.

Asked whether the Indian government had discussed with the Bangladesh government sending Hasina to a third country, he said, "They can say that."

The Bangladesh government has been requesting India to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in a crimes against humanity case over the killings during the July mass uprising, under the prisoner exchange treaty. India has not yet responded to the request.

Meanwhile, Hasina has announced that she wants to return home in December at any cost. News agency Reuters recently reported that she had written to the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi seeking a passport and a national identity card.

A BBC Bangla report suggested that Hasina did not announce her return without India’s consent. The report mentioned two conditions on India’s part.

Under the first condition, Hasina had arrived in India on a Bangladesh military aircraft, so the Bangladesh military itself would have to bring her back; that return could be by land or by air. The second condition is that Bangladesh must guarantee that Hasina will be able to appeal against her death sentence and that the trial over the July killings will start afresh.

India’s foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal gave no answer to questions about these reports. Replying to a journalist, he said, "You have mentioned several possible scenarios. Look, I have nothing to say on that."