Sheikh Hasina’s Interviews: A Well-Planned Media Strategy

Bangladesh's ousted premier exile in India, Sheikh Hasina, has launched a well-planned media strategy aimed at shaping Bangladesh's political landscape ahead of the upcoming national elections.

She has given interviews to seven prominent international news outlets. Four Indian media outlets published her interviews like The Week, The Hindustan Times, New Indian Express, and The Hindu, on 6 and 7 Nov 2025, she earlier gave three simultaneous “exclusive” written interviews to UK-based western media like The Reuters, The Independent, and France media AFP, they all released on (October 29, 2025) the same day. Sheikh Hasina commented on democracy, Interim Government legitimacy, electoral mandates, the International Crimes Tribunal, growing extremism, minority persecution, Human Rights violation, and her party's future. Her narrative campaign operates as a form of soft political interference, leveraging regional platforms to influence public sentiment, international opinion, and ultimately Bangladesh’s electoral environment. It’s threatening Bangladesh’s security and highlighting the need for precautionary security measures.

When Sheikh Hasina speaks to the major international media, her interviews usually generate headlines and generate perceptions, but there is a lot of truth hidden behind them. Beyond the elegant messages and headline-grabbing quotes, there are layers of context, omissions and controversial claims that often don't make it to the front page. Here's a human-centric view of what her interviews mean and what the global media often ignores.

The tenure of Sheikh Hasina(2009-2024), particularly during her second and third consecutive terms was marked by serious and widespread allegations of human rights violations, according to reports from domestic and international human rights organizations, Allegations of human rights violations drawn international attention particularly disappearances and crossfires against RAB, political repression of the opposition, suppression of freedom of expression, and impunity for law enforcement which ultimately led to US sanctions and much international criticism.

HRW said that more than one hundred political activists and critics were disappeared from 2009 to 2023. Crossfire encounters involving the elite force RAB became the most talked about. The UN called RAB a culture of impunity. U.S. Department of Treasury, Dec 10, 2021. According to information, the United States imposed Global Magnitsky Sanctions on RAB in 2021 for human rights violations.

According to Amnesty International, hundreds of cases have been filed against journalists, cartoonists, writers and social media activist under the Digital Security Act (DSA). Bangladesh has consistently ranked 140–162 in RSF's World Press Freedom Index for 2019–2023. The arrest of journalist Shafiqul Islam Kajal in a border crossing case after being missing for 53 days is the most talked about case internationally. Moreover, the murder of journalist couple Sagar Runi has also not been properly investigated and prosecuted by the Hasina government.

According to Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group (ICG), U.S. State Dept. Human Rights Reports. During Hasina's tenure, thousands of leaders and activists of the main opposition party were facing political cases, alleged deaths in police operations, and attacks on peaceful rallies. Allegations of excessive police force and "mass arrests" at large rallies were particularly raised ahead of the 2018 and 2023 elections. But Sheikh Hasina is raising various allegations of human rights violations by the interim government in the Indian and Western media, most of which are due to political conflicts, which can be called her political maneuvering. For instance, the press secretary of the interim government now in Dhaka stated bluntly: “No one in the 21st century has committed more killings or human-rights violations than Hasina.” Such statements rarely take equal prominence in international interview coverage.

A report published by the London-based Financial Times daily has alleged that about 34 billion (34,000 or Tk 28,54,800 crore) has been looted from Bangladesh during Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule as prime minister. According to Transparency International Bangladesh, in 2012-2018, the BASIC Bank scandal and Hallmark scam about 10 thousand crore rupees were looted from the state owned bank. Although Bangladesh's economic growth in the last decade was remarkable, it was accompanied by widespread corruption, looting, the collapse of the banking sector, project corruption, and the creation of power-centric economic groups, which Sheikh Hasina avoided in her interviews. If we look at the data of IMF, Bangladesh Bank, TIB, Reuters, The Economist, things become clearer. Irregular and defaulted loans in Bangladesh's banking sector touched Tk 1.68 trillion in 2024, the highest in South Asia. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), this is a "systemic governance failure." The IMF is due to publish its country report in 2023. 

In the report published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, 2021, regarding the abnormal increase in the cost of Metro Rail, Rooppur Nuclear Project, Payra Power Plant, the researchers have called it "gold-plated project costing" i. e. deliberately increasing the cost. The "pillow scam" (Rs 6,000 for transporting a pillow) in the Rooppur project is internationally ridiculed. Apart from this, many leaders of the ruling party involved in the casino scandal published in 2019 ran illegal businesses worth crores of rupees.

Sheikh Hasina alleged in her interviews that there has been a rise of Islamist extremist groups in Bangladesh, but if we look at her rule, the killing of foreign nationals in terrorist attacks between 2013-2017, the killing of bloggers and writers, and the Holey Artisan attack of 2016 testify to the weakness of the country's security structure. Extremist groups such as Ansarullah Bangla Team and JMB emerged. At the same time, there was a significant increase in attacks and atrocities on minority communities due to political polarization and poor enforcement of the law. In 2013, there were widespread attacks on the homes and places of worship of the Hindu community over war crimes trials, organized violence in Brahmanbaria, Ramu, Gobindaganj in 2016, and communal attacks in Comilla in 2021. 

In her interviews, Sheikh Hasina has demanded a fair and acceptable election in which she also demanded the participation of Awami League. The reality is that during Sheikh Hasina's tenure (2009-2024), Bangladesh's electoral system became increasingly uncompetitive, controlled and politically one-sided, causing concern to domestic and international observers and human rights organizations. The 2014 election was one of the most controversial in recent history. The main opposition BNP boycotted the election. It was widely criticized internationally for winning 154 seats uncontested. Also, the unilateral elections of 2018 and 2024 caused a huge reaction at home and abroad.

Sheikh Hasina's constant interviews and media manipulation are challenging the internal peace and security of Bangladesh. The concern is that she wants to frame the special purpose of human rights, the rise of extremists, money laundering and giving Awami League opportunities in the election. It will put a question mark on Bangladesh's security and image in the international arena.

Written by Tanim Jasim, who is the Assistant Professor, Department of Bangla, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.

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