Shakib says ready to return home; no way back now, responds Aminul

Highlights:

• Shakib has not been home since Hasina fled to India in August 2024
• The cricketer says he wants to talk to PM Tarique on return
• Wants to play at home and 2027 World Cup before retiring
• Says he will face all court cases
• Defends appearance with Hasina, says has no regrets
• Govt rules out his return to international cricket.
• State minister says there's no room for flexibility now
• PMO says Shakib must surrender and face trial

Former Bangladesh cricket team captain Shakib Al Hasan has stated that he is ready to return home, face trial in cases including murder charges and play a farewell series if the government guarantees his security, reports Reuters.

However, State Minister for Youth and Sports Aminul Haque today (7 August) ruled out any chance of that, stating that Shakib has no prospect of returning to international cricket representing Bangladesh after joining a media event featuring ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, reports AFP.

Shakib, a former lawmaker for the activities-banned Awami League from Magura-1, has been living in the United States since Hasina's government was toppled following a deadly student-led mass uprising in August 2024.

Speaking to Reuters by phone from Sri Lanka, where he is playing franchise cricket, Shakib said he was willing to return and face the legal process if his safety was ensured.

"If I get the clearance from the government that my security will be ensured, I am happy to go back, face the court trial and everything that's needed to be done," Shakib said.

"I know I haven't done anything," he said, giving the most detailed account yet of his two years abroad.

The 39-year-old cricketer said he wanted to return immediately and still hoped to play a farewell series at home and represent Bangladesh at the ICC Men's ODI World Cup next year.

Hasina recently told Reuters that she and other Awami League leaders plan to return to Bangladesh voluntarily in December. Shakib also told Reuters that he would try to return alongside Hasina if he could not return immediately.

"Whatever the captain says, we follow her [Hasina]," he said, adding, "I think they will decide it better, and we will follow the instructions given to us."

Hasina, who has been living in India after fleeing there in the face of the uprising on 5 August 2024, was sentenced to death in absentia in November 2025 after being convicted of crimes against humanity over the crackdown on protests that, according to the United Nations, killed about 1,400 people.

Shakib's case highlights the wider fallout from Hasina's ouster, which has left scores of her allies facing criminal charges and unable to return to Bangladesh.

His return would test whether Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's government will accommodate figures from the former ruling ​party — an open question as Hasina herself has announced plans to go back in December despite having been given a death sentence there.

The former Bangladeshi skipper defended his virtual appearance at a media event in Delhi last Wednesday alongside Hasina, after which his unoccupied home in Magura was attacked, saying he had called for peace and Bangladesh's progress and had no regrets.

He also said he had written, through a lawyer, to Bangladesh's home, law, and sports ​ministries under the previous interim government as well as to the police, seeking to have what he described as fabricated charges against him dropped, but had no response.

Shakib said he was keen to talk to PM Tarique ​about returning, according to Reuters.

Shakib 'no longer has any opportunity to return'

However, the government has taken a different position following Shakib's virtual appearance at the event with Hasina in New Delhi.

According to an AFP report, State Minister Aminul in a statement said the government had previously taken a more open approach towards Shakib.

"We had been looking at the matter with considerable flexibility and tolerance. After this, I do not think there is any room to think that way anymore," he said.

"Someone who has taken the stage with the autocrat no longer has any opportunity to return," he added.

Shakib is among dozens facing murder investigations over the deadly police crackdown on protesters that led to the fall of Hasina's government.

A spokesperson for PM Tarique said Shakib was facing the consequences of being a "member of that fallen, defeated, and fugitive fascist government".

"There is absolutely nothing the current government can do to regain support for Shakib Al Hasan in the heart of the people of Bangladesh," AAM Saleh, the PM's press secretary, told Reuters in a statement.

"The domestic laws of Bangladesh apply equally to everyone, regardless of identity or status. In the eyes of the law, Shakib Al Hasan is an accused person, and he must surrender before the courts of Bangladesh to face the judicial process," he said.

Shakib, Bangladesh's most successful cricketer and one of its best-known sporting figures, has played more than 400 international matches and represented the country at five World Cups.

He announced his retirement plans in September 2024 after Bangladesh's second Test against India but later said he would play a full series before calling time on his career.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board said in January that he could return to playing, but his participation in last Wednesday's event sparked anger.

Turning to his future in cricket, Shakib said he would not wait too long before retiring.

"I am feeling good, still enjoying the game, playing well also," he said, adding, "But ... age is not on my side at this moment, so I cannot wait for too long."

Returned midway from Dubai

On one occasion in late 2024, Shakib told Reuters, he boarded a flight home on assurances from the interim government that he ​would be given security, but was told mid-journey to ​turn back. He landed in Dubai and returned to ⁠New York, where he lives on Long Island with his wife and three children.

"I don't know what changed in 12 hours," he said, adding that the trip had been arranged over the previous five to seven days.

A later return plan collapsed after he posted a birthday message for Hasina on social media, which he said authorities ​cited as the reason for barring his re-entry. "I don't understand how that is the criteria for not letting me into Bangladesh," he said.

Shakib rejected suggestions made ​by previous officials that distancing ⁠himself from Hasina and the Awami League could ease his return. "There is no way I will consider that."

In 2024, the then interim government's sports adviser, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, said Shakib would be given security like any other cricketer, but he urged the player to clarify his political stance to reduce public anger over his Awami League ties.

Shakib said two cases against him are currently active: one over the alleged killing of a protester during the uprising, and one brought by anti-corruption ⁠authorities. The murder ​case, he said, was filed on a day in August 2024 when he was playing a match in Toronto.

"It's a laughable case," ​he said, adding that he has not yet appointed a defence lawyer.

His bank accounts have also been frozen for a year and a half pending investigation, he said. He declined to name the banks or say how much money was stuck.

Shakib said that for two years ​he had not seen his parents, who are in Bangladesh and have not been allowed to leave. "It's been difficult for all of us, but we are surviving."