Bangladesh’s fugitive former leader Sheikh Hasina has vowed to return to her country “this year”, according to an interview published on Sunday, months after she was sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity. Hasina, 78, fled to neighbouring India in August 2024 after a student-led uprising ended her 15-year, iron-fisted rule. She has not been seen in public since, except for a rare speech broadcast to a packed press club in New Delhi in January.