Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has stepped down after 15 years in power following weeks of violent protests. Hasina has fled the capital, Dhaka, as demonstrations continue. DW has the latest.
Having served for a combined total of over 20 years (June 1996 to July 2001 and January 2009 to August
2024), Sheikh Hasina is the longest-serving Prime Minister in Bangladesh’s history.
The daughter of Bengali nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first president of Bangladesh, she survived a 1975 coup d’etat, which saw her father and most of her family murdered.
Having been visiting Europe at the time, Hasina took refuge in the house of the Bangladeshi ambassador to West Germany with her husband and children. After accepting an offer of political asylum from Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the family remained in New Delhi for six years, but Hasina was banned from returning to Bangladesh by the military government.
She finally returned home in May 1981 as head of the Awami League, became leader of the opposition in 1991 and became Prime Minister for the first time in 1996.
After returning to opposition in 2001, she survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Dhaka in 2004 before being detained on extortion charges during the 2006-2008 political crisis.
After her release, she won a second term as Prime Minister at the head of a “Grand Alliance” in 2009, going on to win third, fourth and fifth terms in
She finally returned home in May 1981 as head of the Awami League, became leader of the opposition in 1991 and became Prime Minister for the first time in 1996.
After returning to opposition in 2001, she survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Dhaka in 2004 before being detained on extortion charges during the 2006-2008 political crisis.
After her release, she won a second term as Prime Minister at the head of a “Grand Alliance” in 2009, going on to win third, fourth and fifth terms in elections regularly boycotted by opposition parties and criticized by international observers.
She resigned and fled the country on August 5, 2024.
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