PROFILE - Sheikh Hasina: Iron lady whose reign has fallen after student protests in Bangladesh

DHAKA, Bangladesh

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina flew out of the country on Monday as protesters converged in the capital Dhaka and demanded that she quit.

The eldest daughter of Bangladesh’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, maintained power for over 15 years with unprecedented authority.

She governed with what critics said “iron fist.” Her main political rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), faced tens of thousands of legal cases, which many believe she orchestrated with the support of a largely submissive judiciary.

Throughout her long tenure, Bangladesh saw three highly controversial elections, two of which were conducted without major opposition participation, while the 2018 election was widely criticized as a "midnight election" due to allegations that her party supporters cast the majority of votes in the night before the official election day. She secured a fifth term in January.

Ironically, Hasina once played a crucial role in liberating Bangladesh from military rule in the early 1990s, opposing the then-dictator Hussain Mohammad Ershad, who later became her ally.

She had been the prime minister since 2008, following a sweeping victory by the Awami League. The 76-year-old is the longest-serving leader in Bangladesh's history, surpassing figures such as Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi in terms of election victories, and was the world's longest-serving female head of government.

Hasina has led the Awami League, founded by her father since 1981. She earlier served as the prime minister from 1996 to 2001, during which she defeated her rival Khaleda Zia, who later reclaimed power in 2001.

During her recent 15-year tenure, Hasina’s administration was marked by widespread arrests of political opponents and human rights sanctions against her security forces.

Since July, she faced large-scale protests that began as university student-led demonstrations against civil service job quotas. These protests escalated into some of the most intense unrest of her leadership, with growing calls for her resignation.

Initially peaceful, the protests turned violent after clashes with police and pro-government student groups, drawing significant international criticism.

As local media captured Hasina boarding a military helicopter with her sister, Bangladesh’s military chief, Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, announced plans to consult the president about forming an interim government.

Hasina had earlier fled Bangladesh in 2002 due to political turmoil and safety concerns. This exodus resulted from a mix of political violence, corruption allegations, and conflicts with rival factions. She returned in 2004, resumed her political career, and led the Awami League to a decisive victory in the 2008 elections, reclaiming her role as prime minister.

Politically aware

Born in 1947 into a Muslim family in East Bengal, Hasina was politically active from a young age. Her father, Mujibur Rahman, known as the "father of the nation," led Bangladesh to independence in 1971 and became its first president.

By then, Hasina was already a notable student leader at Dhaka University. The assassination of her father and most of her family in a 1975 military coup left her and her younger sister as the sole survivors, as they were abroad at the time.

After a period of exile in India, Hasina returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and took leadership of the Awami League. She played a significant role in organizing pro-democracy protests against Gen. Ershad's military rule, quickly rising to national prominence.

Hasina first became prime minister in 1996, earning credit for a water-sharing agreement with India and a peace accord with tribal insurgents in southeastern Bangladesh. However, her administration faced criticism for alleged corruption and perceived favoritism toward India, leading to her loss of power to former ally-turned-adversary Zia.

Her government's heavy-handed approach to dissent fueled domestic discontent and attracted concern from international observers.

In recent years, the execution of five prominent Islamist leaders and a senior opposition figure, following convictions for crimes against humanity during Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war, instead of healing historical wounds, also sparked widespread protests and violent clashes.