Bangladesh court jails former PM Sheikh Hasina for 10 years in corruption cases

• A Bangladesh court sentenced deposed former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to ten years in prison in two corruption cases linked to a government housing project, with several relatives and senior officials also convicted.
• The verdict deepens a sweeping legal crackdown following Hasina’s ouster in the July Uprising and comes ahead of elections under an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.

A Bangladesh court on Monday sentenced former PM Sheikh Hasina to ten years in prison in two separate corruption cases tied to alleged irregularities in the allocation of land in a government housing project.

Judge Robiul Alam of the Special Court No. 4 delivers the verdict in cases involving plots in the Purbachal New Town project near Dhaka, a large-scale government housing development overseen by the Capital Development Authority, known as Rajuk.

Relatives and officials convicted

The court also sentenced several of Hasina’s relatives. Her nieces, Tulip Siddiq and Azaman Siddiq, and her nephew, Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, receive varying prison terms. Azaman Siddiq and Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby are each sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment.

The trial is conducted largely in absentia. Only one of the sixteen accused, Khurshid Alam, a senior Rajuk official responsible for plot allocations, is tried in person and is present in court when the verdict is read.

Other defendants, including a former junior housing minister, a former ministry secretary, a former Rajuk chairman, and several officials of the state-run authority, are sentenced to five years in prison.

“The trial of the accused was not obstructed regardless of where they were in the world,” Judge Alam says while delivering the ruling.

Allegations of abuse of power

Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission accuses Hasina of conspiring with senior officials to illegally secure six residential plots in Purbachal for herself and family members, despite their ineligibility under government regulations.

Prosecutors argue the case reflects systemic abuse of power during Hasina’s long tenure, while defense statements reject the charges as politically motivated.

Political backlash and international reaction

Hasina’s now-disbanded Awami League describes the verdict as “entirely predictable” and denounces the cases as “false” and “fabricated,” alleging they were staged by the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize Muhammad Yunus.

British lawmaker Tulip Siddiq also rejects the ruling, calling the process “flawed and farcical from the beginning to the end.”

“I’m absolutely baffled by the whole thing,” she tells the BBC. “I’ve still had no contact whatsoever from the Bangladeshi authorities despite them spreading malicious allegations about me for a year-and-a-half now.”

She says no summons or charge sheet was ever served and confirms she has engaged lawyers in both the United Kingdom and Bangladesh. “I feel like I’m in some sort of Kafkaesque nightmare,” she adds.

Post-uprising legal campaign

Hasina’s government was toppled on August 5, 2024, after weeks of student-led violent protests known as the July Uprising. Since then, the interim administration launches a broad legal campaign against the former prime minister, her associates, and family members.

Earlier, a special tribunal sentenced Hasina, now in exile in India, to death on charges of crimes against humanity linked to the violent suppression of the uprising.

In a separate case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, a court on November 27 sentenced Hasina to a combined 21 years in prison over additional Rajuk plot allocations. In that case, her children, Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Saima Wazed Putul, each receive five-year prison terms.

Elections ahead

The latest verdict comes as Bangladesh prepares for national elections scheduled for Feb.12 under the interim government. Hasina’s Awami League has been barred from participating, a decision that has reshaped the political landscape and intensified debate over accountability, justice, and due process in the post-uprising era.