Do we like them?

Do we like Tarique Rahman?

Our score: 5 out of 10. A decent record on women, climate and the Rohingya, but press-freedom concerns, a long run of court cases and no word on LGBTQ+ rights keep it middling.

Tarique Rahman is the man who went from exile to the top job. He told BBC Bangla in October 2025 that he had lived in London since 2008 and said he would contest the next election. His BNP then won the February 2026 election and he became Prime Minister.

The legal history is long. The Anti-Corruption Commission accused him in 2009 and 2010 over alleged money laundering to Singapore, and the High Court sentenced him to seven years in 2016. The Appellate Division acquitted him in March 2025. A trial court also gave him a life sentence in 2018 over the 2004 grenade attack, but the High Court acquitted him in December 2024 and the Appellate Division upheld that in September 2025. His backers say he was not named in the original charges, while the Awami League alleged the attack was orchestrated under his blueprint.

On the harm check, we found no harmful words of his own about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet. At a February 2026 rally he attacked an unnamed party for wanting to confine women to the home, calling that language a disgrace. We found nothing from him on LGBTQ+ rights either way, so that is a gap, not a pass. Rights groups also wrote to him in March 2026 urging stronger protection of religious and ethnic minorities.

The good stuff is real, if early. At the UN in September 2026 he called for emissions cuts in line with the 1.5C target, climate finance and the Loss and Damage Fund. He also pushed the safe return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar and proposed five measures at an event co-convened with The Gambia. Those are speeches, though, so the test is what happens at home.

So it is a close call. He has stayed on the right side of the line on women and climate in his own words, and the court cases that dogged him ended in acquittals. Against that, press groups say journalists are still being targeted, and nothing we found tells us where he stands on LGBTQ+ people. We would watch what he does on media freedom, and we would want that LGBTQ+ gap filled.