Sheikh Hasina is not an ‘exiled leader’. She is a convicted criminal found guilty of crimes against humanity.

 Sheikh Hasina is not an ‘exiled leader’. She is a convicted criminal found guilty of crimes against humanity.

International media outlets routinely describe Sheikh Hasina as an “exiled political leader.” This is not merely inaccurate — it is a deliberate distortion. Exile means being forced out of one’s country by a hostile power or foreign intervention. That is not what happened to Hasina. After ordering a massacre of unarmed students and ordinary citizens during her own rule, she fled the country on a military aircraft to escape the fury of the people she had governed with an iron fist. That was an escape, not exile.

The International Crimes Tribunal has already found her guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to death. The charges proven against her include ordering the use of helicopters, drones and lethal weapons to crush the July-August 2024 student uprising, inciting mass killings, and failing to prevent or punish the atrocities. Former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal received the same death sentence in the same case. Although these verdicts were delivered in absentia, they remain the official judgments of a Bangladeshi court. That is the formal record.

Crimes against humanity are not her only convictions. She has also been found guilty in multiple corruption cases. In several cases involving irregularities in plot allotments under the Purbachal New Town project, she has been sentenced to a total of 21 years in prison. In the same cases, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. Her daughter Saima Wazed Putul was likewise convicted. Other members of the family have also received sentences in various corruption cases.

Those who still insist on calling Hasina an “exiled leader” can take a simple test. Let her return through Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport or any land border of her choosing. Broadcast it live and unedited. Let the world see the reception the people of Bangladesh have prepared for her. Then the reality will speak for itself.

A clear appeal to the international media: calling Sheikh Hasina “exiled” does not erase her crimes. Hasina is convicted. Joy is convicted. The court’s verdict is final. Report it as such.