Shakib Al Hasan's house attacked after joining Sheikh Hasina's virtual press conference

The ancestral home of former Bangladesh cricket captain and ex-Awami League lawmaker Shakib Al Hasan was attacked and targeted with petrol bombs on Wednesday night, hours after he joined a virtual press conference featuring the country’s deposed and exiled former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.

According to police and local reports, the attack took place at around 8:45 to 9:00 pm local time at Shakib’s residence in the Keshab Mor area of Magura town. Assailants threw brick chips that smashed windows and damaged the structure, and hurled petrol bombs that reportedly ignited a fire in the upper portion of the property near its gate.

The house was unoccupied at the time and no injuries were reported. Md Abdullah Al Mamun, officer-in-charge of Magura Sadar Police Station, said several people had thrown brick chips, vandalised windows and attempted to set the house on fire. Police said those responsible had not been identified, and additional officers were deployed to secure the site.

Timing tied to the press conference

The violence came hours after Shakib appeared virtually at a media event featuring Sheikh Hasina, which was hosted earlier in the day by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi. During the press conference, Hasina, who has been living in exile in India since her government fell, announced her intention to return to Bangladesh. Shakib, who is himself abroad, took part remotely; some reports placed him in Sri Lanka at the time, though his exact location could not be independently confirmed.

Shakib served as a Member of Parliament for the Magura-1 constituency, having won the seat in the 2024 general election as a candidate for Hasina’s Awami League. He lost the position when parliament was dissolved after the government’s collapse.

Legal scrutiny and exile

Since the 2024 student-led uprising that ousted the Awami League government, Shakib has faced public anger and legal scrutiny. He is living in self-imposed exile outside Bangladesh and has been named in a range of investigations, including cases relating to murder, embezzlement, fraud and money laundering. He is among many former Awami League figures facing legal action over the events surrounding the uprising; the allegations have not been tested in court, and Shakib has not been convicted.

The all-rounder, long one of Bangladesh’s most celebrated athletes, has previously said he regretted not speaking out during the unrest, and has faced protests both for and against his return to the national side in the period since.

Reaction

The Awami League condemned the attack in a statement on the social media platform X, describing it as an assault on its supporters and linking it to the wider political climate in the country. The party framed the incident as part of what it called a pattern of intimidation against those associated with it. Those characterisations reflect the position of the Awami League and have not been independently verified.

The attack echoed scenes elsewhere in Bangladesh, where homes and properties linked to Hasina and Awami League figures — including the Dhaka residence of the country’s founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman — have been targeted during and after her addresses from exile. The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has previously attributed such unrest to public anger stirred by Hasina’s statements from abroad.