Dhaka (Bangladesh): A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in two separate corruption cases linked to alleged irregularities in the allocation of government housing plots.
Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court found the 79-year-old leader guilty of misusing her official position to influence the allotment of residential land under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachol, located on the outskirts of the capital. The court held that the allocations benefited several individuals, including her niece Tulip Siddiq, a British Labour MP and former UK minister.
Judge Robiul Alam also handed down prison sentences to Hasina’s close relatives. Tulip Siddiq’s siblings, Azaman Siddiq and Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, were sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment each. The verdict was delivered following a trial conducted in absentia, as none of the convicted family members were present in court.
Among the 16 accused in the case, only Khurshid Alam, a senior official of Rajuk—the government authority responsible for land allotments—was tried in person and appeared in court during the pronouncement of the judgment. Several other accused, including a former junior housing minister, a former ministry secretary, a former Rajuk chairman and multiple officials, were sentenced to five years in prison.
Delivering the verdict, the judge stated that the trial proceedings were carried out without obstruction, regardless of the physical location of the accused persons.
Reacting sharply, Hasina’s now-disbanded Awami League described the convictions as politically motivated and predictable, alleging that the cases were fabricated by the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus. The party reiterated its claim that the legal action against its former leader was malicious and intended to settle political scores.
Tulip Siddiq, however, rejected the ruling and questioned the legitimacy of the judicial process. She described the proceedings as deeply flawed and said she had never been formally contacted by Bangladeshi authorities. Speaking to the BBC, Siddiq said she had received no summons, charge sheet or official correspondence despite being a sitting British parliamentarian.
She added that she had engaged legal counsel in both the United Kingdom and Bangladesh, describing her situation as bewildering and surreal.
Sheikh Hasina’s government was ousted following a student-led uprising in August 2024, which turned violent and culminated in the collapse of her administration. Since then, the interim government has initiated multiple legal actions against Hasina, her associates and family members.
Earlier, a special tribunal sentenced Hasina to death on charges of crimes against humanity related to the handling of the protests. In another case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, she was sentenced in November to a cumulative 21 years in prison, while her children, Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Saima Wazed Putul, received five-year prison terms in a separate land allocation case.
