RETURN OF SHEIKHA HASINA TO BANGLADESH

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000750 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2017 TAGS: PHUM PREF PGOV KDEM BG SUBJECT: RETURN OF SHEIKHA HASINA TO BANGLADESH REF: A. DHAKA 0423 ¶B. DHAKA 0657 Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, Reason(s): 1.4 (d) ¶1. (SBU) On May 7, Awami League (AL) leader Shiekh Hasina returned to Bangladesh. AL Secretary General Abdul Jalil told us that the government gave permission for 16 Awami League representatives, up from ten reported in the media, to receive her at the airport. Jalil vehemently rejected any suggestion that the AL would hold any street demonstrations to welcome Hasina. ¶2. (C) Asked whether the government would arrest Hasina on various charges, AL Organizing Secretary Sultan Mansur Ahmed said, "We will see, it's really up to the government." When Hasina departed in March, she insisted to emboffs that she has done nothing wrong and that corruption charges filed against her by the previous government were baseless. On April 23, the government suspended a warrant for her arrest on murder charges pending further investigation. ¶3. (C) AL leader Abdur Razaaq told us that as far as he knew Hasina planned to leave Bangladesh in the first week of June to return to the United States for the birth of her daughter,s child. BUTENIS