A Bangladeshi court on Monday sentenced deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to 10 years imprisonment in two corruption cases relating to alleged irregularities in the allocations of land in a government housing project in Dhaka, The Daily Star reported.
Judge Muhammad Rabiul Alam of the Special Judge’s Court-4 of Dhaka handed down a sentence of five years in each case to Hasina.
The cases had been filed by the country’s anti-corruption commission for the alleged irregularities linked to allocation of two 10-katha plots under the Rajuk New Town Project in Purbachol, The Indian Express reported.
The prosecution had claimed that the persons accused in the matter had manipulated the allocation process and violated rules of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, an urban development authority in Dhaka, the newspaper reported.
The court also sentenced the former prime minister’s nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq, her nieces Tulip Rizwana Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq, and several others in the cases linked to alleged irregularities in the allocation of the plots, PTI reported.
Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, The Daily Star reported. Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, a British MP, was handed down a sentence of four years – two years in each case.
Hasina had fled to India in August 2024 after several weeks of widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government. She had been in power for 16 years.
After her ouster, Nobel laureate economist Muhammad Yunus took over as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government.
Between November 27 and December 1, Hasina was sentenced to 26 years’ rigorous imprisonment in four corruption cases , The Daily Star reported.
The country’s International Crimes Tribunal had in November also sentenced Hasina to death for crimes against humanity in connection with the deadly crackdown on the protesters in 2024.
The former prime minister’s sentencing on Monday came ahead of the general elections scheduled to be held on February 12, the first since she was ousted.
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