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'Escaped death by 25 minutes': Sheikh Hasina on surviving ‘conspiracy to kill her’ in Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina claimed that there were ‘conspiracies’ at various phases of her life to kill her. ‘Allah wants me to do something more,’ she said.
Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina alleged a conspiracy to kill her and her sister Rehana the moment student-led protests forced her to step down from power on August 5 last year.
Hasina made these allegations in an audio posted late Friday on her Facebook page by the Bangladesh Awami League party.
“Rehana and I survived – just 20-25 minutes apart, we escaped death,” Hasina said, claiming that the alleged attempt last year was not the first time to eliminate her. The former prime minister claimed that there were “conspiracies” at various phases of her life to kill her.
“I just feel that surviving the killings on August 21, or surviving the huge bomb in Kotalipara, surviving on this time August 5, 2024, there must be a will of Allah, a hand of Allah. Otherwise, I'm not going to survive this time. You later saw how they planned to kill me,” said Hasina.
“However, it seems to be a mercy of Allah that I am still alive because Allah wants me to do something more,” she added.
Also read | India extends ex-B’desh PM Sheikh Hasina’s visa amid extradition call by Dhaka
‘I am without my country’
Hasina was forced to flee the country and seek asylum in India as the student-led movement, alleged to have the opposition's backing, stormed the national capital, Dhaka. Over 600 people were killed and hundreds injured as protesters refused to back down unless Hasina quit.
Reflecting on her exile in an undisclosed location in India, Hasina said, “Although I am suffering, I am without my country, without my home, everything has been burned,” in an emotional note.
Also read | India unlikely to respond to Hasina extradition call
Hasina wanted in Bangladesh
On January 6, a Bangladeshi court issued a second arrest warrant against the 77-year-old Hasina for her alleged role in enforced disappearances, the chief prosecutor said.
Hasina is already facing an arrest warrant for her alleged “crimes against humanity” during her 15-year-long tenure as the prime minister.
Tajul Islam, chief prosecutor of the domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), said that more than 500 people were allegedly abducted by Bangladeshi security personnel, with some detained in secret facilities for years.
Bangladesh asked India in December to send Hasina back to face trial, a demand to which Delhi declined to respond. The interim government sought her extradition through a note verbale, or unsigned diplomatic correspondence, sent to the external affairs ministry on December 23.
