Deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has alleged that there were attempts on her life just moments before she and her sister fled Dhaka on August 5 of last year during violent student-led protests.

“Me and my sister, Sheikh Rehana, managed to survive. We barely escaped death within a span of 20–25 minutes,” Hasina said.

In an emotional audio message shared on her Awami League party’s Facebook page, Hasina stated that it was only by God’s grace that she survived multiple assassination attempts throughout her political career.

“I feel it is the will of Allah that I have survived the killings on August 21, the Kotalipara bomb plot, and the recent August 5 threat… Otherwise, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

Hasina claimed that “conspiracies” to eliminate her have occurred at various stages in her political journey. However, she refrained from naming any individuals or groups she believes may be behind these alleged plots.

“I am suffering, I am without my country, without my home, everything has been burned,” Hasina said at the end of the audio message.

She recalled a specific incident from 2000 in Kotalipara, approximately 140 kilometers from Dhaka, where explosives were discovered in a college that she was scheduled to visit.

On August 21, 2004, a grenade attack during an Awami League rally resulted in the deaths of 24 individuals and injured more than 500 others. At the time, Hasina was the opposition leader and was among those injured in the incident.

On August 19, A Bangladeshi war crimes tribunal set up by ousted premier Sheikh Hasina has launched three “mass murder” probes into its founder over the unrest that forced her to flee the country, an investigator said.

Hasina fled Dhaka by helicopter as thousands of protesters storm her palace, with millions on the streets celebrating, some dancing on the roof of armoured cars and tanks on August 6.

In July 2024, university students build barricades blocking roads and railway lines to demand reforms of a quota system for sought-after public sector jobs. At least six people were killed in clashes during protests in Dhaka, prompting Hasina’s government to close schools and impose an internet blackout. Despite a curfew and military deployment, violence continued, with at least 32 fatalities reported and a Supreme Court ruling deemed insufficient by protesters.

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