File photo: Sheikh Hasina speaking in Bangladesh Parliament, 12 July 2018. Representative image. Press Information Department, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
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Why it matters
The development concerns a former leader living in India and a handover demand addressed to New Delhi. Separating an application for documents from an extradition request prevents either step being mistaken for an agreed journey.
The Hasina passport request reported on 9 November 2026 seeks two documents, a Bangladeshi passport and a national identity card, as the former prime minister pursues a planned return from India. Reuters said it had seen the lawyers’ letter. The application is a new step in that plan, while the reports used here establish neither that the documents have been issued nor a fixed travel date.
What the Hasina passport request asks authorities to do
According to Reuters’ report carried by The Jerusalem Post, lawyers at London-based Matrix Chambers wrote to Bangladesh’s acting high commissioner in Delhi. They asked the authorities to issue Sheikh Hasina a new passport and national identity card.
The lawyers referred to the reported revocation of her existing documents by the earlier interim government and other authorities. They asked for prompt processing on the basis of her Bangladeshi nationality and international human-rights obligations. Those are the grounds advanced in the letter, as reported by Reuters, rather than a ruling that Bangladesh must grant the application.
A request for identity and travel documents also does not settle how or when a return would take place. Reuters said Hasina’s aides would announce a date after the necessary formalities were completed. No departure date was supplied in that account.
December remains a plan, with a court case in the background
Sheikh Hasina has been living in India since leaving Bangladesh during the uprising in August 2024. Reuters said she had told the agency she intended to return in December and surrender before a court. That is her stated intention; it is not a report of a journey already arranged or completed.
Bangladesh’s war-crimes tribunal sentenced her to death in November 2025 in her absence over the crackdown on the student-led uprising, according to Reuters. Hasina has denied the charges from exile. The document application does not, in the reporting reviewed, change that sentence or resolve the dispute about the case.
Her Awami League party was banned after her fall, the agency reported. It said many party colleagues were jailed or living abroad. This is the political setting in which the passport request has been made, rather than evidence that party restrictions have changed.
Dhaka’s extradition demand is a separate request
Bangladesh’s Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman described the government’s position to journalists on 8 November. Bonik Barta reported that he said a formal request for Hasina’s return had already been made under the bilateral extradition treaty with India. Extradition refers to a government seeking another country’s handover of a person through a legal process.
The minister said Bangladesh would follow legal procedures and, if India handed her over, produce her before a court. Mint’s report of his remarks also said the matter concerned Bangladesh’s Home Ministry. These are statements about the government’s demand and intended procedure, not confirmation that India has agreed to a handover.
Two different requests therefore sit alongside each other. Hasina’s lawyers are asking Bangladesh for documents for their client. Bangladesh’s government is asking India for her return through the treaty process. Treating either request as an approval of the other would go beyond what the reports establish.
The dates and decisions that should be kept apart
NewsPlainly’s chronology below separates past events, the new application and the proposed next step. The December entry records an intention, while the earlier entries concern events already reported.
| Date | Reported development | Status |
|---|---|---|
| August 2024 | Hasina leaves Bangladesh for India | Past event |
| November 2025 | Tribunal imposes death sentence in her absence | Reported conviction; she denies charges |
| 8 November 2026 | Law minister reiterates legal route for return | Government’s position |
| 9 November 2026 | Lawyers seek passport and identity card | Request reported by Reuters |
| December 2026 | Hasina’s intended return | Plan; exact date not supplied |
The next matters to establish are a decision on the document application and any confirmed arrangements for a return. Reuters reported that its requests for comment to the Bangladeshi diplomat in Delhi and the prime minister’s spokespeople in Dhaka had not received an immediate response. That describes the agency’s reporting at the time, not a claim that no official has commented anywhere.
The India connection is direct: Hasina is living in India, her lawyers’ request went to Bangladesh’s diplomatic mission there, and Dhaka’s handover demand is addressed to New Delhi. Further coverage belongs in NewsPlainly’s World section as confirmed decisions emerge.
Frequently asked questions
Has Sheikh Hasina received a new passport?
The reports used here describe a request through lawyers. They do not confirm that a passport has been issued.
When does she plan to return?
Reuters reported her intention to return in December. Her aides said a date would be announced after formalities were completed.
Is the passport request the same as extradition?
No. Her lawyers seek documents from Bangladesh; Dhaka’s government has sought her handover from India under a bilateral treaty.