Sheikh Hasina

Sheikh Hasina Wazed (born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who served as Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001 and again from 2009 to 2024. A daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, she is Bangladesh's longest-serving prime minister and one of the longest-serving female heads of government globally. She has also served as president of the Awami League since 1981.

Born to the Sheikh family of Tungipara in Gopalganj, Hasina had little presence in politics prior to the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975. After years in exile, she returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and led the Awami League in opposition to military rule. Hasina and Khaleda Zia played a key role in the 1990 uprising that restored parliamentary democracy; the two later became longtime political rivals in what was termed the Battle of Begums. After serving as Leader of the Opposition from 1991 to 1996, she won the June 1996 general election, beginning her first term as prime minister. She served as Leader of the Opposition again from 2001 to 2006.

Her second premiership, after winning the 2008 general election, was marked by significant economic and infrastructural development, as well as increasing national and international concern over democratic backsliding, enforced disappearances, human rights abuses and restrictions on political opposition and press freedom. Critics accused her government of consolidating power, corruption and embezzlement of foreign reserve. Observers raised allegations of electoral irregularities in the 2014, 2018 and 2024 general elections.

In July 2024, security forces led by the Awami League repressed a students' quota reform movement, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of protesters. The movement subsequently coalesced into an uprising and non-cooperation movement, leading to her resignation and exile to India and bringing an end to her 15-year premiership. In November 2025, she was convicted in absentia by the Bangladeshi International Crimes Tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity, including ordering lethal force against protesters, and sentenced to death, which she rejected as politically motivated.

Hasina was among Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2018, and was listed as being one of the 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes in 2015, 2018 and 2022.

Early life

Hasina Sheikh was born on 28 September 1947 to the Bengali Muslim Sheikh family of Tungipara in East Bengal, Pakistan (now in Dhaka Division, Bangladesh). Her father was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and her mother was Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib. Hasina grew up in Tungipara during her early childhood under the care of her mother and grandmother. When the family moved to Dhaka, they initially lived in the neighbourhood of Segunbagicha.

When Hasina's father became a government minister in 1954, the family lived on 3 Minto Road. In the 1950s, her father also worked in the Alpha Insurance Company, aside from his political activities. In the 1960s, the family moved into a home built by her father on Road 32 in Dhanmondi. In many interviews and speeches, Hasina talked about growing up while her father was held as a political prisoner by the Pakistani government. In one interview, she remarked, "For instance, after the United Front Ministry was elected in 1954, and we were living in No 3 Minto Road, one day, my mother told us that father had been arrested the night before. Then we used to visit him in jail and we always realised that he was put in jail so often because he loved the people." Hasina and her siblings had limited time to spend with their father because of his preoccupation with politics.

Family murder and first exile

Except for her husband, children and sister Sheikh Rehana, Hasina's entire family was murdered during the 15 August 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état which saw the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Hasina, Wazed and Rehana were visiting Europe at the time of the assassination. They took refuge in the house of the Bangladeshi ambassador to West Germany; before taking up an offer of political asylum from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India. The surviving members of the family lived in exile in New Delhi, India for six years. Hasina was barred from entering Bangladesh by the military government of Ziaur Rahman.

Early political career

Return and movement against military rule (1981–1991)

While living in exile in India, Hasina was elected President of the Awami League on 16 February 1981. The party has been described as centre-left. Hasina returned to Bangladesh on 17 May and received a welcome from thousands of Awami League supporters.

Under martial law, Hasina was in and out of detention throughout the 1980s. In 1984, she was put under house arrest in February and again in November. In March 1985, she was put under house arrest for three months.

Hasina and the AL participated in the 1986 Bangladeshi general election held under President Hussain Muhammad Ershad. She served as the leader of the parliamentary opposition, an eight-party alliance, from 1986 to 1987. Her decision to take part in the election had been criticised by her opponents, since the election was held under martial law, and the other main opposition group boycotted the poll. However, her supporters maintained that she used the platform effectively to challenge Ershad's rule. Ershad dissolved the parliament in December 1987 when Hasina and her Awami League resigned in an attempt to call for a fresh general election to be held under a neutral government. During November and December in 1987, a mass uprising happened in Dhaka and several people were killed, including Noor Hossain, an Awami League activist and supporter of Hasina.

Her party, along with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) under Khaleda Zia, continued to work to restore democratically elected government, which they achieved after a constitutional referendum returning the country to a parliamentary form of government.

The subsequent parliamentary general election in 1991 was won by the BNP.

Leader of the Opposition (1991–1996)

After several years of autocratic rule, widespread protests and strikes had paralysed the economy. Government officers refused to follow orders and resigned. Members of the Bangladesh Rifles laid down their weapons instead of firing on protestors and curfew was openly violated. Hasina worked with Khaleda Zia in organising opposition to Ershad. A huge mass protest in December 1990 ousted Ershad from power when he resigned in favour of his vice president, Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, the Chief Justice of the Bangladesh Supreme Court. The caretaker government, headed by Ahmed, administered a general election for the parliament. The BNP, led by Khaleda Zia, won a general majority, and Hasina's Awami League emerged as the largest opposition party. Of the three constituencies Hasina contested, she lost in two and won in one. Accepting defeat, she offered her resignation as the party president but stayed on at the request of party leaders.

Politics in Bangladesh took a decisive turn in 1994, after a by-election in Magura-2, held after the death of the member of parliament for that constituency, a member of Hasina's party. The Awami League had expected to win back the seat, but the BNP candidate won through rigging and manipulation, according to the neutral parties who witnessed the election. Hasina led the Bangladesh Awami League in boycotting the parliament from 1994.

First premiership (1996–2001)

The Awami League (AL), with other opposition parties, demanded that the next general elections be held under a neutral caretaker government, and that provision for caretaker governments to manage elections be incorporated in the constitution. The ruling BNP refused to act on these demands.

Opposition parties launched an unprecedented campaign, calling strikes for weeks on end. The Government accused them of destroying the economy while the opposition countered that the BNP could resolve the issue by acceding to their demands. In late 1995, the members of parliament of the AL and other parties resigned en masse. Parliament completed its five-year term and the February 1996 general election was held. The election was boycotted by all major parties except the ruling BNP, who won all the seats in the parliament as a result. Hasina described the election as a farce.

The new parliament, composed almost entirely of BNP members, amended the constitution to create provisions for a caretaker government (CTG). The June 1996 general election was held under a neutral caretaker government headed by retired Chief Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman. The AL won 146 seats, a plurality, but fell short of a simple majority. Khaleda Zia, leader of the BNP who won 104 seats, denounced the results and alleged vote rigging. This was in contrast with the neutral observers who said that the election was free and fair.