Sheikh Hasina Wazed, byname Sheikh Hasina, Wazed also spelled Wajed, (born September 28, 1947, Tungipara, East Pakistan [now in Bangladesh]), Bengali politician and leader of the Awami League political party, who twice served as prime minister of Bangladesh (1996–2001; 2009– ) Bearing the legacy of her father, who led Bangladesh’s liberation war, Hasina has never been afraid of a fight. So when several hundred thousand ethnic Rohingya refugees started streaming into Bangladesh last August to escape atrocities by the Myanmar army, she accepted the humanitarian challenge. An impoverished country, Bangladesh had not welcomed massive influxes of refugees in the past, but she could hardly turn back the traumatized victims of ethnic cleansing.