Dhaka: A Bangladesh court has sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her niece, British lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, to prison terms in a high-profile corruption case linked to the alleged illegal acquisition of government land near Dhaka.
Judge Mohammed Rabiul Alam of Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court-4 handed Hasina a 10-year jail sentence after the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission accused her of abusing her position to secure plots for herself and close family members in a state housing project. Hasina, who ruled Bangladesh for 15 years, has been living in exile in India since 2024, when a student-led mass uprising forced her from power.
Tulip Siddiq, a member of the UK’s governing Labour Party and Hasina’s niece, was sentenced to four years in prison for her role in the same case. The court also sentenced Siddiq’s siblings, Azmina Siddiq and Radwan Mujib, to seven years each.
Following the verdict, Bangladesh’s military publicly urged police in London to arrest Siddiq and hand her over to Bangladeshi authorities, describing her and other family members as fugitives.
Prosecutors told the court that Siddiq had used her political influence to persuade Hasina to help her mother, Sheikh Rehana, and other relatives obtain land in the government project. Siddiq has rejected the allegations, calling them politically motivated and a smear campaign.
The latest convictions add to a growing list of legal cases against Hasina. She has already been sentenced in several similar corruption cases tied to the same land project. In earlier rulings, courts handed her a combined 26-year prison term, while her children and sister also received jail sentences.
Hasina is also facing far graver charges. She has been sentenced to death in absentia over crimes against humanity linked to a violent crackdown on protests during her final months in power, in which up to 1,400 people were killed, according to the United Nations.
The verdicts come as Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, prepares for national elections on February 12. Hasina’s former party, the Awami League, has been barred from contesting the polls.
