Allow Awami League to contest in Bangladesh election, says Sheikh Hasina

The deposed Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, on Friday (January 23, 2026) demanded that the interim government in Dhaka, led by Chief Adviser Mohammed Yunus, allow her party, the Awami League, to participate in the upcoming February 12 election.

Ms. Hasina’s recorded audio message was played at a press conference organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia, marking the first time Ms. Hasina had addressed a collective media platform since arriving in India on August 5, 2024, after a student-led uprising toppled her government.

“If he talks about democracy and means it, then why not allow the Awami League to contest the elections? Let the people decide whom they want,” said Ms. Hasina in a speech delivered in both English and Bengali.

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Ms. Hasina was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Dhaka for her role in the July–August 2024 crackdown against protesters who demanded her resignation following a movement that began over government quota in education and employment. Along with Ms. Hasina, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal was also sentenced to death in a verdict delivered by the ICT on November 17, 2025. The interim government has banned the Awami League and its student wing, the Chhatra League.

“Yes, if there is a free, fair, and independent election and the people do not vote for the Awami League, then the Awami League will accept it,” said Ms. Hasina, who has been living at an undisclosed location in India since leaving Dhaka by helicopter on August 5, 2024.

In her speech, Ms. Hasina highlighted the plight of minority communities in Bangladesh, saying they “face continuous persecution under the interim government”. She added that Bangladesh faces “mob terror”, noting, “The frenzy of militant extremists has cast a pall of fear across the nation.”

Bangladesh is preparing for elections scheduled for February 12, and the same day a referendum will be held on the ‘July Charter,’ a set of proposed principles intended to bring changes to Bangladesh’s Constitution.

Friday’s (January 23, 2026) press conference was also addressed by former Education Minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury Nowfel and Awami League activist Mohammad A. Siddique, who were present at the venue. They were joined online by former Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen, former Information and Broadcasting Minister Mohammed Ali Arafat, and Prof. S.M. Masum Billah, former Dean of the Faculty of Law at Jagannath University, Dhaka.