NEW DELHI: Bangla­desh’s former leader Sheikh Hasina alleged on Friday that elections next month would not be free or fair, in her first public speech since being sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity.

The nation of 170 million people votes on Feb 12 to choose a new leadership after prolonged political turmoil following the overthrow of Hasina’s autocratic government in Aug 2024.

Hasina, 78, fled to India after a student-led uprising ended her 15-year, iron-fisted rule, and has not been seen in public since.

Her speech is likely to further aggravate ties between New Delhi and Dhaka, which have soured since her ouster.

“Bangladesh stands today at the edge of an abyss, a nation battered and bleeding,” Hasina said in English during an audio message broadcast to a packed press club in the Indian capital.

“Democracy is now in exile,” she said.

In November, Hasina was found guilty by a Dhaka court of incitement, order to kill and inaction to prevent atrocities, and sentenced to be hanged.

The activities of her former ruling Awami League, once the country’s most popular party, have been outlawed.

“Bangladesh must defend and restore the constitution written in the blood of martyrs, reclaim our independence, safeguard our sovereignty, and revive our democracy,” Hasina said.

Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who returned from exile after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster at the behest of protesters to lead a caretaker government, will step down after the polls.

Yunus said the vote will “set the standard for good elections”, his office said in a statement on Friday.

But Hasina struck a defiant tone, attacking her longtime rival.

“Bangladesh will never experience free and fair elections until the shadow that Yunus casts is lifted from the people of Bangladesh,” she said.

Bangladeshi parties launched their official campaigns on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2026