Sheikh Hasina once fought for democracy in Bangladesh. Her critics say she now threatens it

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was Bangladesh’s opposition leader in 2007, when hundreds of troops raided her home and took her to a court in the capital of Dhaka, where she was arrested on extortion charges.

Hasina, who had served as premier in 1996-2001, slammed the charges as a conspiracy to keep her from running in upcoming polls. She was fighting for the rights of her people, she said at the time, in a Bangladesh trapped in a state of emergency under a military-backed interim government.