Bangladesh court sentences ex-PM Hasina, UK lawmaker niece in graft case

News|Courts

A Bangladesh court handed down jail sentences to exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her niece, UK lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, on corruption charges.

The court in Dhaka on Monday sentenced Hasina to 10 years after she was accused by the country’s corruption watchdog of illegally securing property in a government land project near the capital for herself and family members.

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Hasina has been in exile in India since 2024 when she was ousted by a student-led mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule.

She has since been sentenced to death in absentia on charges of crimes against humanity linked to the crackdown on the protests, which killed as many as 1,400 people, according to the United Nations.

Judge Mohammed Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge’s Court-4 also sentenced Siddiq, a lawmaker for the United Kingdom’s governing Labour Party, to four years in prison in connection with the alleged land grab.

Siddiq’s siblings, Azmina and Radwan Mujib, each received seven-year sentences for their involvement in the case.

The Bangladesh military called on police in London to “arrest and hand over the fugitive Tulip and her wanted family members to the Bangladesh Law Enforcement agencies immediately”.

Hasina and Tulip Siddiq were previously sentenced in similar cases regarding a government land project. Both denounced that verdict.

Bangladesh ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. — Ex-PM Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka in 2016 [File: EPA]

The prosecution said Siddiq influenced her aunt to help her mother – Sheikh Rehana, Hasina’s sister – and two siblings acquire a plot in the government project in Dhaka.

Siddiq dismissed the allegations as a “politically motivated smear”.

Hasina was previously convicted in four other cases over corruption in the project as charges of misusing power pile up against her following 15 years in power.

In those cases, the court sentenced her to a total of 26 years in prison with her children, Sajeeb Wazed and Saima Wazed, receiving five years each. Her younger sister Sheikh Rehana – mother of Tulip, Azmina and Radwan – was sentenced to seven years.

The latest verdicts came as the interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, prepares for February 12 elections.

Hasina’s former ruling Awami League party has been banned from taking part.