• Sheikh Hasina is now considering alternative destinations such as Finland after learning she is unlikely to be granted asylum in the UK or US.
• The Ex-PM is also considering extending her stay in India where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already granted her temporary asylum.
Bangladesh’s ex-PM Sheikh Hasina has been delivered several embarrassing blows in her bid to seek asylum with the leaders she has close ties with within the West.
In her sudden exit and resignation from the country and her role as Bangladesh’s leader, Hasina, while seeking refuge in India with hersister Sheikh Rehana, had been considering her options with the countries she was expected to apply for political asylum, the UK, US and Finland.
UK and US Make Asylum Excuses
Reports from India and the US are saying that Hasina’s American visa has been revoked. The US embassy in Dhaka was approached for comment but said they could not confirm this nor “discuss individual visa matters.”
As the response from the US became known, the UK had also made up its mind about Hasina’s application for asylum, where it is purported, she had her mind set on settling.
The response, however, will not be what she expected as asylum may prove difficult given the change in immigration rules set in place by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government.
Since 2023, Sunak’s government said that Individuals seeking asylum must do so “in the first safe country they reach”.
This will already cause problems for Hasina’s UK asylum claim, asmany presumed that Hasina landed in Delhi owing to her close friendship with Indian PM Narendra Modi when it was also because her daughter Saima Wazed has been living and working in Delhi as the Regional Director of the World Health Organisation
Owing to the complications that could occur from this in applying for asylum, Hasina is also said to be considering flying to the UK, to seek sanctuary directly from the government. However, individuals are not guaranteed to be granted immediate asylum this way and would highly likely be sent back to the country they came from.
What is being considered by Hasina is the same as a person using a dinghy to traverse the English Channel from France to England, to land on the English shores and then claim asylum.
Possible Criminal Charges
The main concern of the UK and the US will be over Hasina’s unpopularity and her instructions to commit the mass murder of students and Bangladeshi Nationals who peacefully protested her implementation of a job quota system, which would have benefitted the children of her most devout supporters, all as a result of Hasina’sautocratic leadership.
The UK and the US are hesitating to allow Hasina entry into their respective countries despite her sister Sheikh Rehana and niece, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq having British Citizen status and her son Sajeb Wased Joy living in America.
Foreign Secretary and Labour MP, David Lammy had already released a statement after Hasina’s departure saying:
“The people of Bangladesh deserve a full and independent UN-led investigation into the events of the past few weeks.”
This shows concern about Hasina being implicated in any investigation conducted by the United Nations, though Lammy did not specifically mention her by name in his full statement.
Should either country decide to allow entry to Hasina in the future, more protests would follow upon her arrival, over her complicity in the mass murder of so many Bangladeshis and prioritising her asylum claim ahead of others most in need.
Given the strain in relationships already existing between governments and Muslims in the West, created by the Zionists over the genocide in Palestine, the US and UK can ill afford to alienate any more of their voter base and also risk complicity in aiding a potential fugitive should Hasina be investigated and found guilty.
Hasina’s Supporters
Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeb Wazed Joy, spoke out against the reports of his mother’s American visa being revoked and that she hadn’t even attempted to apply yet.
Speaking with the BBC World Service, Joy also said there “would be no political comeback” for his mother and blamed a supposed small minority for the uprising that led her to flee, with an aircraft that she was no longer entitled to use or keep.
Both of Hasina’s children receive lifelong security protection, funded by the Bangladeshi government following multiple assassination attempts on her life during her time as Prime Minister.
It is hoped that when the country recovers quickly, they will fullyinvestigate Hasina and her supporters and disclose if any money has been usurped and embezzled away. There is also a possibility that other people may be incriminated, with consequences that must be far-reaching across the globe if needed.
Modi Takes Risk
While Hasina sits in Delhi, we can only hope that Bangladesh finds its feet quickly and keeps a watchful eye on Modi. He is unlikely to be able to accommodate her for too long given the scrutiny he is already facing after his own controversial and poor election results.
The pressure of keeping Hasina as an ousted Muslim leader in a country where Modi is training people to target and commit crimes against Muslims and dictate Islamophobic instructions will only embolden people to question him.
Moreover, Modi must have also realised by now, that for the good of the stranglehold that he and the BJP have over India for the moment, it would be prudent to move on Hasina as soon as possible, before his people begin to challenge his rule and authority.
Sheikh Hasina is now a risk for any leader to accommodate, as she has become a symbol for a government that has failed its people and treated them with contempt. By resorting to mass murder, she has condemned herself to an exile which no one can see her hopefully coming back from.
