By Krishna N. Das
NEW DELHI, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Bangladeshi cricket great Shakib Al Hasan, an ally of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said he is ready to return from a two-year exile, face trial on charges including murder and play a farewell series if the government guarantees his safety.
Shakib, a former lawmaker for Hasina's Awami League, has been living in the United States since her government was toppled in a deadly student-led uprising in August 2024. Now 39, the player has not yet retired
from international cricket and said he still hopes to play a farewell series at home and represent his country at the 2027 one-day World Cup.
The former Bangladeshi captain's case highlights the wider fallout from Hasina's ouster, which has left scores of her allies facing criminal charges and unable to return to Bangladesh. His return would test whether Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's government will accommodate figures from the former ruling party — an open question as Hasina herself has announced plans to go back in December despite having been given a death sentence there.
"If I get the clearance from the government that my security will be ensured, I am happy to go back, face the court trial and everything that's needed to be done," Shakib told Reuters by phone from Sri Lanka, where he is playing franchise cricket.
"I know I haven't done anything," he said, giving the most detailed account yet of his two years abroad.
Hasina, who has been living in India, was sentenced to death in absentia over the crackdown on the Bangladesh protests that killed about 1,400 people, according to the United Nations. She has told Reuters that she and other Awami League leaders plan to return to Bangladesh voluntarily in December. Shakib said he wanted to go home immediately, but failing that would try to return alongside her.
"Whatever the captain says, we follow her," he said. "I think they will decide it better, and we will follow the instructions given to us."
Shakib defended his virtual appearance at a Delhi press conference on Wednesday alongside Hasina, after which his unoccupied house in Bangladesh was attacked, saying he had called only for peace and Bangladesh's progress and had no regrets.
He said he had written, through a lawyer, to the Bangladeshi interior, law and sports ministries under the previous interim government as well as to the police, seeking to have what he described as fabricated charges against him dropped, but had no response. Shakib said he was keen to talk to Prime Minister Rahman about returning.
Spokespeople for Rahman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Turning to cricket, Shakib said he would not wait for too long to retire.
"I am playing most of the franchise leagues. I am feeling good, still enjoying the game, playing well also," he said. "But ... age is not on my side at this moment, so I cannot wait for too long."
RETURNED MIDWAY FROM DUBAI
On one occasion in late 2024, Shakib said, he boarded a flight home on assurances from the interim government that he would be given security. He called officials from the airport lounge to confirm he was travelling, then was told mid-journey to turn back. He landed in Dubai and returned to New York, where he lives on Long Island with his wife and three children.
"I don't know what changed in 12 hours," he said, adding that the trip had been arranged over the previous 57 days.
A later return plan collapsed after he posted a birthday message for Hasina on social media, which he said authorities cited as the reason for barring his re-entry. "I don't understand how that is the criteria for not letting me into Bangladesh," he said.
Shakib rejected suggestions made by previous officials that distancing himself from Hasina and the Awami League could ease his return. "There is no way I will consider that."
In 2024, the then interim government's sports adviser, Asif Mahmud, said Shakib would be given security like any other cricketer, but he urged the player to clarify his political stance to reduce public anger over his Awami League ties.
He said two cases against him are currently active: one over the alleged killing of a protester during the uprising, and one brought by anti-corruption authorities about alleged corruption. The murder case, he said, was filed on a day in August 2024 when he was playing a match in Toronto.
"It's a laughable case," he said, adding that he has not yet appointed a defence lawyer.
His bank accounts have also been frozen for a year and a half pending investigation, he said, though he declined to name the banks or say how much money was stuck.
"When someone is the highest-taxed player for the last 10 years and paid all the taxes and everything and his account has been frozen for a year and a half for investigation," he said. "I will give you all the information you need, but if you don't find anything, just release it."
Shakib said that for two years he had not seen his parents, who have remained in Bangladesh but have not been allowed to leave.
"It's been difficult for all of us, but we are surviving."
(Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
