A Bangladesh court on Monday handed former prime minister Sheikh Hasina a five-year jail term in a land scam case, adding to a series of convictions that have reshaped the country’s political landscape since her ouster.
Judge Md Rabiul Alam of Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court-4 also sentenced her sister Sheikh Rehana to seven years in prison and her niece, British MP Tulip Siddiq, to two years.
The Daily Star reported that this is the fourth verdict involving Hasina in graft cases initiated by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The ACC registered six cases between January 12 and 14, alleging irregularities in the allocation of plots under the Purbachal New Town project.
According to the commission, Hasina, working “in collusion with senior Rajuk officials,” secured six 10-katha plots in the diplomatic zone of Sector 27 for herself and close family members, including Sajeeb Wazed Joy and Saima Wazed Putul, despite “their ineligibility under existing regulations,” reported The Dhaka Tribune.
Charges were framed on July 31 against 29 individuals, including Hasina, Rehana, Joy, Putul and Tulip.
On November 27, Hasina had already been sentenced to 21 years’ rigorous imprisonment, seven years in each of three related cases concerning the same project. Joy and Putul were co-accused in separate cases and received five-year terms.
As legal proceedings advance inside Bangladesh, the interim government has moved diplomatically. It has sent an “official letter” to India requesting Hasina’s extradition.
This follows a November 17 ruling by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD), which sentenced 78-year-old Hasina to death, along with then home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, on charges of committing “crimes against humanity” during their trial in absentia.