Hasina vows to stay in India, refuses to apologise for July Uprising protester deaths

Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has refused to apologise for the deadly crackdown on protesters during the July Uprising that led to her ouster last year.

In an interview with The Independent published today (29 October), she was asked if she would apologise to the families of protesters killed last year. She responded that she "mourns each and every child, sibling, cousin and friend we lost as a nation" and would "continue to offer my condolences".

In another interview with Reuters, Hasina, 78, said she would not return to Bangladesh under any government formed after elections that exclude her party, and plans to remain in India, where she fled in August 2024 following the student-led uprising.

Sheikh Hasina, who is currently in New Delhi, India, was interviewed by Reuters and the UK-based The Independent on Wednesday.

Hasina told The Independent that she would "neither be surprised nor intimidated" if Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) sentenced her to death, calling the proceedings "a sham trial" driven by political vengeance.

"The ICT is a sham court presided over by an unelected government consisting of my political opponents. Many of those opponents will stop at nothing to get rid of me," she said. 

"Because of my family's history, nobody can be more aware than I am of the history of political assassinations in our country, and this move by the ICT is part of that ugly tradition."

"No democratically elected leader should be prosecuted for upholding constitutional duties to protect their country in the face of violent insurrection."

She told Reuters that millions of supporters of Awami League will boycott the national election, after the party was barred from contesting the polls.

"The ban on the Awami League is not only unjust, it is self-defeating.

"The next government must have electoral legitimacy. Millions of people support the Awami League, so as things stand, they will not vote. You cannot disenfranchise millions of people if you want a political system that works."

Hasina said the Awami League would eventually return to play a role in Bangladesh's future — whether in government or opposition — and that her family need not lead it.

Her son and adviser, Sajeeb Wazed, who lives in Washington, told Reuters last year he might consider leading the party if asked.

"It's really not about me or my family," Hasina said. "For Bangladesh to achieve the future we all want, there must be a return to constitutional rule and political stability. No single person or family defines our country's future."

"I would of course love to go home, so long as the government there was legitimate, the constitution was being upheld, and law and order genuinely prevailed," she said.

Speaking to The Independent on the July Uprising death toll, Hasina said, "The 1,400 figure is useful to the ICT for propaganda purposes but is probably inflated".

Hasina claims the violence stemmed from decisions made by officers on the ground rather than directives from her government. 

She said, "The charges rely on compromised testimony and evidence that has been manipulated and taken out of context to serve the political ends of an unelected government."

"The key street-level decisions were made by security personnel on the ground who were expected to follow well-established operational guidelines. Those guidelines endorse the use of firearms in certain circumstances. It may well be that in a febrile atmosphere some decisions were made that were mistaken."